


RWBY: Book of Thieves

by Red_Reef



Category: RWBY, Sly Cooper (Video Games)
Genre: (Only fake ones), Alternate Universe - Thieves, Caboose Cameo, Cop! Winter, F/F, F/M, Gen, I Don't Even Know, No bears were harmed in the making of this story, Parody, Thieves! Team RWBY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2019-10-29 05:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17802152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Reef/pseuds/Red_Reef
Summary: Ruby is set on a path that tests her strength and abilities to see whether she can take the mantle of a master thief like her ancestors before her, and reclaim her birthright as successor to the Rose Clan.





	1. Prologue - The Rose Thief

_**Vale City, California** _

The sky was mostly clear that night with the exception of a few smog clouds from the factories on the far side of the city. The black canvas above was clear of any stars thanks to the amount of light pollution the city gave off, but the full moon glowed dimly in the background behind the Beacon Tower. As the cool, Autumn air blew a chilly wind through the streets, a shadow moved stealthily across the rooftops, just out of sight of any who were to chance a look up. The shadow was practically flying across the long gaps between buildings, narrowly landing on the roof's edges without losing pace. They swerved around water towers, over satellite dishes, and off of chimney stacks with the skill and grace of a professional acrobat. They leapt across one final gap, bouncing off two neon signs hanging from the walls before landing safely. The shadow finally stopped running, pulling down the hood of their crimson-red cloak and stepping into the moonlight.

A girl, barely in her late teens, with short, choppy black hair that gradates into dark red tips walked close to the edge of the rooftop, her silvery eyes scanning the area. As another chilling breeze blew past, she shivered and rubbed her arms. She was starting to regret not listening when it was suggested that she should wear warmer clothing for the mission, but she liked her outfit – she picked it out herself! Sure, wearing a black and red skirt and stockings wasn't very practical for the weather, the thin martial of her silky blouse wasn't much help either, the combat boots would seem a little clunky for someone of her profession, and the corset seemed to have little use since she was…still growing, despite how much milk she drinks. All of these things together seemed very impractical for her job, but it was the image she made for herself – all of the greats needed an image!

The one thing she definitely wouldn't change about herself were her two most cherished items: her cloak and her cross. The red cloth that fluttered behind her was tattered – full of small holes and tears at the bottom – and looked like it had been stitched together more than a dozen times. She could have gotten a new cloak if she wanted, but she wouldn't. Though it was not alive, it was her oldest and closest companion. The same for the cross necklace that hanged by its silvery chain around her neck. It was scratched and cracked in a number of places, but the pendent with its gothic styling and it's tiny rose detailing in the center were irreplaceable. It was –

" _ **RUBY! COME IN! RUBY! DO YOU HEAR ME?**_ "

The girl named Ruby nearly felt off the edge as the voice screeched into her earpiece. She flailed her arms and pulled herself back, letting out a relieved sigh when she was safe.

**RUBY ROSE - THE THIEF**

"Yeah, I can hear you, Weiss," said Ruby, sticking a finger in her other ear. "I'm pretty sure the entire west coast heard you…."

* * *

At the same time, in a dark alleyway nearby, a black van sat very conspicuously in between the overflowing trash containers and the piles of broken boards and boxes, right underneath the flickering sign for a Faunus strip club. With its gothic-black paint job, rose petal decals around the wheels, and the  _giant_ red rose stamped on the side, Weiss often wondered if the police were really that incompetent not to put two and two together. There were literally two cops who walked past the alley, stopped, looked at them, and just went on their merry way not even ten minutes ago. But, despite the failing logic of it all, Weiss digressed.

She took her usual space in the back of the van, coordinating everything with the elaborate computer set-up she had personally installed. The lights of the blue screens reflected off her fair skin while illuminating the long, noticeable scar running down her left eye. She pushed the great length of white hair that she had tied into an off-center ponytail out of the way as she tapped away frantically on the keyboard, readjusting the angle of the camera that was pinned to Ruby's cloak.

A scowl crossed her features when Ruby's retort reached through coms.

"Well, excuse me for being a little concerned about the well-being of my partner," Weiss snapped.

**WEISS SCHNEE – THE BRAINS**

"You do realize how insane this is, right?" said Weiss, shaking her head in annoyance. "It's one thing to break out, but to break  _in_! And in the Vale City Branch, no less! You know whose office is in there!"

" _ **Would you like to call them instead**_?" Ruby responded. " _ **Maybe we can ask them nicely.**_ "

"Don't even joke about something like that," said Weiss insipidly. "Do you have eyes on the target?"

* * *

Ruby walked over to the ledge again, reached into her backpack, and pulled out her binoculars. Just across the street from where she was perched was the American headquarters of the International Criminal Police Organization, or more commonly known as INTERPOL. The building wasn't as big as some of its overseas branches since it was only built in the past decade, but that didn't make it any less secure. Besides the numerous police agents milling past the open windows and filtering in an out of the front door, there were a dozen cameras mounted on every corner of the building and even some of them were aimed at the sky for intruders trying to sneak in from above. And then there were the things she couldn't see, like silent alarms, security lasers, and so on.

"Just like we expected," said Ruby, whistling. "These guys don't play around."

" _ **It's INTERPOL headquarters – what else would they be if not one of the most secure places in western America**_ ," said Weiss irritably. " _ **Are you sure we have to do this? This is taking way too big of a risk.**_ "

"Hey, you've got nothing to worry about," said Ruby. "You're the one sitting safe in the van. Besides, I have to get that file. You know how important it is to me."

" _ **Ugh, fine, but you get caught, I'm ditching your skinny ass!**_ " Weiss snapped.

"Should I be flattered that you stare at my butt?" Ruby teased.

She heard Weiss sputter unintelligibly over the coms, growled frustratedly, and said, " _ **Blake, please tell me you're almost in position**_."

" _ **I'll be there in just a minute**_ ," a third voice joined the conversation.

* * *

The INTERPOL security room was state-of-the-art, filled with the all the latest buttons, switches, and doodads to keep any potential intruders from getting in. The entire back of the room was covered from wall-to-wall with computer monitors linked to every camera in the station, all controlled from a single, colorful control panel for easy operator use...

It was also the single most boring job in the entire world. Just ask Officer Michael J. Caboose. The dull-looking officer was leaning back into his rolling chair, moaning loudly, and spinning around slowly just because he was bored.

"I'm bored!" Officer Caboose whined. "Monitor duty is so boring! I don't wanna do it!"

Just then, someone knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for a response. Caboose stopped spinning in his chair long enough to look at the newcomer as they closed the door behind them. It was a woman with long black hair, dressed in a prim and proper officer uniform, but wore her hat very low so that the bill cast as shadow over her eyes. Caboose tilted his head dimly as the stranger crossed the room, her hands folded behind her back like a dutiful officer of the law.

"I'm here to relive you," said the officer in a firm and even voice. "You can go home now – I'll take it from here."

"Wait…," Caboose said in a slow, suspicious tone, tilting his head. "I just started my shift five minutes ago. Shouldn't I have, like, another four hours or something?"

"….no…?" the stranger said in a slow, unconvincing voice.

"…Good enough for me!" said Caboose cheerfully. The stranger nearly fell over as Caboose practically bounced out of his chair, grabbed his coat, and jaunted over to the door. "Thanks for taking over, dude, I was totally dying of boredom! There's some leftover Chinese on the desk over there, Sarge is gonna be out of the office until tomorrow, so he won't be coming to check up on anyone. What else was there…? Oh yeah, I completely forgot to turn on all the firewalls and security programs, so anyone could just log in and take over the entire system if they had wireless access. It's a good thing you're not a criminal, or we would be in big trouble. Whelp, good night!"

And with that, he slammed the door behind him and walked away. The befuddled police officer stared at the door open-mouthed…before she removed their cap and revealed that she weren't a police office, but a Faunus girl with piercing-gold eyes and a pair of cat ear twitching on the top of her head. The Faunus girl blinked once…twice…three time, almost expecting the whole exchange to be a joke and that Caboose would walk back in any moment now when he realized his mistake.

He didn't.

"Well, that was unexpectedly easy," she said, scratching her head.

**BLAKE BELLADONNA – THE MOLE**

Once it became apparent that Officer Caboose wasn't coming back, Blake took his seat and rolled up to the computer terminal. She pulled out a white flash drive from her pocket and inserted it into the USB port. A red light flickered at the end of the flash drive before it turned a steady green. Blake turned her attention to the wall of screens, watching one of the monitors flicker back and forth for a moment before it was replaced by a blue screen with a white snowflake emblem.

" _ **All right, I'm in,**_ " Weiss reported.

* * *

"Accessing all data files, overriding command locks," Weiss mumbled to herself, her fingers flying across the keypads. "My god, it's like they  _want_ us to break in. They literally have no defenses."

" _ **We can thank the guard for that,**_ " said Blake. " _ **He didn't exactly seem like the brightest bulb.**_ "

"Just a few more keystrokes aaaaand…," Weiss said with a satisfying click. "Done! All cameras are on a continuous loop and outer security has been shut down. We're in the clear."

"I still say I should have been part of the plan," an annoying grumble came from the front.

Weiss hanged her head with an agitated sigh, turning in her chair to face the woman in the driver's seat. Her lilac-colored eyes were drooped in a bored expression as she leaned over the back of her seat, her chin resting on her folded arms, and her wild, untamable golden-blonde hair just hanging everywhere. The blonde woman was pouting like an overgrown child, which, Wiess reminded herself, she was. She gave Weiss those big, round puppy eyes and her lower lip quivers sadly. Unfortunately for her, that didn't work on Wiess – she couldn't never match up against Ruby's pouty face.

"When we need a wrecking ball to tear the place down, we'll let you know, Xiao-Long," said Weiss coolly, returning to her computer.

"Jeez, you are one cold bi – " the blonde woman started.

**YANG XIAO-LONG – THE MUSCLE**

" _ **Can't we leave you two alone for five minutes?**_ " asked Blake exasperatedly.

" _ **They're fire and ice – they're gonna butt heads unless we're babysitting them**_ ," said Ruby knowingly.

"I don't need a babysitter," Yang complained, turning forward and crossing her arms. "I just don't like sitting around while my baby sister and girlfriend are on a dangerous job."

" _ **Yang, we all agreed this was for the best,**_ " said Blake soothingly; Yang mumbled something under her breath. " _ **Just get the van ready to go in case we need a quick exit. If we pull this off, we can have a nice night, just the two of us.**_ "

"You mean like that night in Cabo?" Yang said with a toothy smile, her voice practically purring. "That was pretty wild, even for my standards. I feel bad for the maid who had to clean until the hotel room after we left. There was whip cream  _everywhere_  – "

" _WE DON'T NEED TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR NIGHTY ACTIVITIES!_ " Weiss screech, her face flaring up.

"They don't always happen at night…," Yang teased.

" _GOD DAMN IT, YANG!_ "

" _ **Can we focus on the job here, please,**_ " Ruby pleaded.

* * *

" _ **All right, it should be simple from here,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **With the security down, you should be able to get through the ventilation shaft on the north side of the building.**_ "

"All right, I'm going in," said Ruby. "Blake, get out and head back to the van. I'll meet up with you once I grab the file from the office."

" _ **If Weiss has control of their tech, why don't we just pull the file straight from their computers?**_ " asked Yang.

" _ **We discussed this a hundred times, Yang,**_ " Weiss groaned. " _ **You-know-who has the file, right? They're smart enough to know that we would try to pull the data from their computer. They're keep a physical copy locked up in their office, and Ruby has to steal it directly.**_ "

"Gotta hand it to them, though," said Ruby. "They really get us."

" _ **That's not a good thing,**_ " said Wiess. " _ **Hurry up and retrieve the file so we can get out of here.**_ "

Ruby cut of the coms, turned, and dashed along the edge of the building before jumping off to the next rooftop. Getting to the top of the INTERPOL headquarters was much easier now that she didn't have to worry about the cameras spotting her and alerting the whole building of her presence. The red-hooded thief looped around a water tower, bounced off a flagpole, and soared to the station, rolling onto the roof and stopping at a crouch. Ruby cautiously peeked over the edge down toward the entrance where a group of officers were walking in – none of them had noticed her. Still, not to take any chances, the Rose Thief crossed the roof low to the ground and found the opening to the air vent.

She grabbed the grate and pulled. It was bolted shut. Not a problem, she thought to herself. Ruby reached into her backpack and whipped out Crescent Rose, her trusty tool for thieving. At first appearance, it just looked like an oversized pocket knife, but with the press of a button, it transformed very sharp scythe (even if Weiss says it looks more like a climbing axe, dumb Weiss). When her adopted mother made the weapon for Ruby, the red hooded girl wanted to make it eight feet tall, but the woman denied her request, saying that an overgrown scythe wasn't practical for a thief. Now that she was older, Ruby agreed that it was a little ridiculous, but it would've been so cool!

Ruby jammed Crescent Rose into the corner of the grate and applied pressure, popping the vent cover right off its hinges. She returned Crescent Rose to her backpack, then got on her hands and knees and started crawling into the vent, moving very slowly so that she didn't make any noise. Ruby had been through a lot of vents during her career as a thief, always full of dust and spiderwebs, but this one was thankfully spotless.

"Wow, the cleaning guys must get paid very well," said Ruby; the shaft practically sparkled!

" _ **Thank god, no laundry tonight,**_ " Yang sounded relieved.

" _ **You're practically there,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **Their office is right on this floor. Go straight at the first intersection, then take two lefts, then a right, then go straight until the end. The last grate should lead into their office.**_ "

Ruby followed the instructions, carefully moving at what felt like a snail's pace as she slithered around the metal maze; her body felt chillier since she was going against the air conditioning – who turned on the AC in the middle of October?! Several times, Ruby had to stop moving when she heard a pair of officers walking around below, stilling her breathing until she was sure they had passed. Ruby took a wrong turn once or twice, but Weiss was quick to correct her and got her along the right path. In no time at all, Ruby came up to the last vent at the end of the tunnel and peeked through the grate. The office was empty – perfect. She used Crescent Rose to pop the grate open again and dropped down.

The office was ridiculous levels of tidy in Ruby's unprofessional opinion. Everything was stacked neat and clean and everything was placed like it had all been lined up by an edge ruler. Even the personal photos on the desk were in a single file line approximately four centimeters apart. They really needed to get out more, Ruby thought.

The only thing that was in slight disarray was the giant corkboard on the back wall, pinned with dozens of photos consisting of Ruby and her gang along with various news clippings and internet screenshots, all connected by red strings on a global map.

"Wow, I'm impressed," said Ruby, looking over the conspiracy board. "It's flattering that they're so persistent."

" _ **Don't be,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **Just hurry up and locate that file**_."

Ruby started searching the quarters, going through the six different filing cabinets – which were all alphabetized, of course – checked underneath the tables and tapped the walls for a hidden safe. But when she got around to the desk, she found out that she didn't have to look too far. A manila folder was just sitting there; a snapshot of Ruby's face paperclipped at the top and the tag had her name printed on it along with a small stamp in the corner with the words "High Priority Case".

"Hey, Weiss, I found it," said Ruby. "It was just sitting here on the desk."

" _ **Wait…**_ ," said Weiss slowly. " _ **You found a top secret, highly-classified document in THAT person's office…just lying out in the open**_?"

"Yeah, they just left it where anyone can find it," said Ruby cheerfully. It took a moment before her mind processed those words, at which point her smile quickly dropped. "Oh no…."

"Oh, yes."

Before she even felt the cool metal against the back of her head, Ruby knew she had screwed up. She held her hands above her head, though still holding on to the file. She felt the gun make a gesture against her hair and Ruby slowly turned around until she was staring into the cold, icy-blue eyes of her assailant.

The woman had a familiar shade of white hair tied into a bun that curved her bangs to cover the right side of her face. Her attire was nothing like the drab matching uniforms of the police; it had a regal look to it, like the clothes worn by a Victorian gentleman, something Ruby would appreciate if she didn't have the barrel of a gun pressed against her forehead.

The thief wondered how the woman managed to sneak up on her without noticing; there was no place for such a tall person to hide when Ruby searched the room. But a glance over the woman's shoulder showed there was an open window behind her, leading to a fire escape. Ah, so that's how she did it. She must have been waiting for Ruby all night…. Ruby's silver eyes snapped forward again when the woman tapped her head with the gun to regain her attention.

"Don't even think of running, Rose," the woman said in a low voice. "I've caught you red-handed. Or red-hooded, as the case may be."

"Winter…hey, how's it going?" said Ruby nervously. "I see your hair grew back after that incident in Mumbai."

"Speaking of which, you have yet to return the Ruby Eye of Mumbadevi to its rightful owner," said Winter sternly.

"Yeah, you see…I was gonna give it back, but then this thing came up, and – "

"Save it," Winter grimaced. "Three years I've been chasing your little gang ever since you kidnapped my sister and strong-armed her into working for you. Now I have you right where I want you."

"For the record, Weiss was the one that came up with the idea for the kidnapping," Ruby commented lightly. "She's the one that tricked us into thinking we had a big score – "

"I've heard enough out of you," Winter hissed, pushing Ruby back a little with her gun. "Your global crime spree ends now."

* * *

Back in the van, Weiss, Blake, and Yang had been sitting in, listening to the conversation as it was happening. Without warning, Yang pounded the dashboard with a furious growl and started reaching for the door when Blake threw herself over her lover and stopped her by the wrist.

"Yang, what do you think you're doing?" cried Blake.

"I'm gonna rescue my sister! What does it look like?" Yang snapped, trying to throw the Faunus off.

"You can't just go running in there without a plan!" Blake yelled back, struggling to hold her grip.

"Just watch me!" Yang yelled.

" _ **Whoa,** calm down there **, Winter,**_ " Ruby spoke carefully over the coms, enunciating certain words. " _ **You've got me. I'll** stay put **. Gotta say, you really know how to** drive _ ** _a point. Why don't_** _park_ ** _that gun back where you got it. There's not a whole_** _lot_ ** _I can do_** _ **since you cut off my** getaway **.**_ "

"You hear that," said Blake when Yang visibly started calming down. "She's fine. Ruby has a plan – she always has a plan. We need to get ready to pick her up when she gets out."

Yang, still sour-faced, dropped her hand away from the door handle and rubbed her temple with an irritable sigh. The blonde brute too a deep breath, calming the last of her nerves, before she turned over the engine and drove the van out of the alleyway, her tires screeching into the night.

* * *

Winter pushed Ruby back several paces until they were in the center of the room, likely intentional to keep the Rose Thief from using any nearby objects that would help her escape the situation. And Ruby had to admit that Winter was smart to do that, but she neglected to take the case file that was still in the thief's hands. She possibly didn't think that Ruby would use a bunch of papers to her advantage; Ruby was going to prove her wrong.

"Hands behind your head and don't try anything funny," said Winter sternly as she presented a pair of handcuffs. "With any luck, the next thirty years behind bars will teach you the error of your criminal ways."

"As lovely as that sounds, I don't have any plans of going to jail until I'm an old hag," said Ruby playfully, her hands still raised in the air. "Now, I would love to stay and chat, but I just dropped by to pick up this case file. There're a few old scores I need to settle and your brilliant detective work might help me do that. So I'll just be leaving."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" asked Winter suspiciously.

"Like this."

Ruby flicked her wrist and tossed the folder into the air near the ceiling. Winter's eyes followed the case file subconsciously, and in that moment, Ruby swiftly dropped down and took a spinning kick to Winter's ankles. The INTERPOL officer let out a cute, girlish yelp that Ruby just thought was adorable as she fell forward, landing facedown on the carpet. Before Winter could get back up, Ruby snatched the case file out of the air and made a dash for the open window and onto the fire escape. Before she left, however, Ruby reached into her backpack, plucked out a single red rose that she grew herself, and dropped it on the windowsill.

A good thief always leaves a calling card.

Her cloak whipped behind her as Ruby raced down the stairs four steps at a time. She heard a pair of boots clatter on the metal above her, knowing that Winter was already on her tail. Ruby was on the bottom platform and was climbing down the ladder when a gunshot rang out and something whizzed past her left ear. Ruby looked up with a frightened gasp. Winter had forgone chasing after Ruby and was leaning over the railing, shooting her pistol from an angle. The red-hooded thief quickly slid down the rest of the way and took off as another bullet came dangerously close to her knees.

She had ended up in the INTERPOL parking lot. Ruby shoved her way past a couple of officers, who watched her run past dumbfoundedly when another gunshot made them drop to the ground in a panic, throwing their hands over their heads. The officers craned their heads up as Winter came sliding down from the fire escape.

"Get up, you idiot!" Winter howled, taking another shot. "It's Ruby Rose! She's getting away!"

At the mention of the global thief, the officers immediately bounced back up and whipped out their pistols. Ruby would be honored to get such a reaction from the authorities if they didn't start taking potshots at her back.

The Rose Thief weaved her way back and forth between the cars as all three INTERPOL agents started shooting up the parking lot. Most of their shots were wild and untrained. They broke several windows and left more than a dozen bullet holes in the patrol vehicles, not showing any signs of stopping, which made absolutely zero sense considering their guns shouldn't even be holding that many rounds.

Ruby rushed toward the end of the parking lot when a pair of screeching tires alerted her to what was up ahead. She felt relieved when a rose-patterned van expertly parked itself backwards into the lot. The doors flew open and Blake hurriedly gestured Ruby, yelling, "Get it, quick!" Ruby dived headlong insides just as Blake slammed the doors behind her; a repeated rattling filled the van as the bullets slammed the back doors.

" _FLOOR IT!_ " Ruby shouted to Yang.

The blonde all but slammed her heels on the accelerator and the rest of the team was thrown back as the van suddenly went from a zero to a hundred in just a few seconds. Once they leveled out on the thankfully empty stretch of road ahead, Ruby crawled her way up to the passenger's seat and threw herself down with a relieved sigh. In the side mirror, Ruby could faintly make out Winter throwing her gun to the ground, possibly screaming a lot of expletives, before she faded into the background.

"Phew, that was a close one," said Ruby, immediately regaining her chipper tone. "Good work, gang! We gave Winter the slip yet again!"

"Not without filling my baby with more holes," Yang complained, caressing the dashboard like it was a puppy. "Did that mean old Ice Queen hurt you, sweetie?"

"I thought I was your sweetie," said Blake teasingly.

"Aw, you know I love you both equally," Yang declared with a playful laugh.

"Don't know how I feel about that," said Blake blankly.

"Winter was really pissed this time," said Weiss, clattering back to her chair. "I haven't seen her that mad since I was four years old and accidentally tore off the ears of her favorite stuffed bunny."

"Probably still mad about the hair thing," said Yang. "I know I would be."

"I hope whatever's in the file is worth all the trouble we went through," said Blake with a sharp glance toward their leader.

"Speaking of which, what  _is_ in that file?" asked Weiss. "You never told us why you wanted it. What makes it so important."

There was a moment where Ruby was hesitant to answer, something that neither Weiss nor Blake had ever seen before. It looked like she was contemplating whether or not she should actually give an answer and turned to Yang for help. Of everyone here, Yang was the only one that understood the importance of the file and why Ruby was determined to get it. She had a serious look in her eyes as she returned Ruby's gaze, slowly nodded in silence before turning her eyes back on the road, which led to the outskirts of Vale City. Ruby looked at the file thoughtfully one last time before she turned around in her seat, leaning over the backrest as she faced Weiss and Blake with an unnaturally serious expression.

"You two have stood by us these last three years and we owe you for that," said Ruby softly. "And if we're going to go through with this, you should know what you're getting yourselves into."

"I already don't like it," said Weiss, crossing her arms.

"Ruby, just tell us what you're planning," Blake asked kindly.

"Okay…," said Ruby slowly, uncertainly. "The reason why we had to get this file is because I need it to avenge my family and get back our most valuable treasure."

"Avenge your family?" Weiss murmured surprisingly. "You never talked about your family before."

"That's because it's not a happy story," said Ruby sadly. "To really understand what happened, I need to go all the way back to the beginning…the very beginning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at that, another parody. Anyone who is surprised that me, the Queen of Copycats, would be writing another parody, raise your hand. What? No one? Didn't think so.
> 
> I was replaying the Sly Cooper series one day out of nostalgia when it just clicked in my head and I ended up making this. Honestly, this was just done on a whim and I have no real obligation to finish it like the Akko Kagari series and the Serenity Academy Series. This will probably be mostly used to give me something to do whenever I am in the middle of writer's block, to get my creative brain functioning again. So I'm telling you ahead of time not to expect an update every week or something. That being said, here's a basic rundown of the characters.
> 
> Ruby – the thief and main character. She makes a perfect Sly replacement with her speed, acrobatic skills, and she has Crescent Rose like Sly has his cane. She's the technical leader of the gang, but it's the rest of the team that mostly does the planning and inventing while Ruby handles the field work.
> 
> Weiss – In this universe, Weiss is a genius hacker and serves as the team's coordinator, but she's not an inventor like Bently and can't just make machines and fancy gadgets to save the day. Her job mostly consists of aiding the team remotely, which comes in handy when most of the world runs on computers.
> 
> Blake – like the sneaky ninja that she is, Blake is the team's mole. She is a master of disguise and expertly plants herself inside their targeted locations without anyone knowing she's not supposed to be there. Her job is mostly to trick the guards into moving somewhere else while Ruby goes for the target.
> 
> Yang – As you might expect, Yang is the team's muscle and getaway driver. She is the strongest of the whole team and has been trained in almost every known form of combat. Unlike in canon, however, Yang isn't related to Ruby by blood, but she has known Ruby the longest and treat each other like sisters.
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you think. I repeat that I have no real obligations of finishing this. Maybe when I get through the other stories, I'll consider running this full time, but for now, it's just a playful little side venture, one that you hopefully enjoy.


	2. Prologue - Origins

" **To really understand what happened, I need to tell the story all the way back to the beginning…the very beginning.** "

_**Thebes, Egypt - 1323 B.C.** _

Even as the harsh, unforgiving sun burned the ancient city of Thebes, the people went about their day like any other – some even felt it was much cooler than normal. Few young men and women traveled to the temples early in the morning, ready to face a full day of education – a rare gift during these times – while most adults toiled away in the fields near the Nile river, harvesting wheat and flax, and children played their games in the shaded alleys. The streets were alive with activity; everyone from basket weavers, bread bakers, sandal-makers, and cloth creators were pushing their goods in raised voices to the thousands of people that flittered up and down the road, many of them foreigners from distant lands searching for valuable trade to return home with.

" _ **It began in Thebes, along the Nile River in Egypt, many days after the death of Tutankhamen, Egypt's youngest pharaoh. While it was still unclear who would become the next pharaoh since Tutankhamen left no children behind, Thebes was a thriving community rich with trade and resources, all provided by the Nile. It was also the home of the founder of the Rose Clan, Desher***_ "

Our attention turns to a small, modest household owned by a woman who was grinding herbs into paste with a mortar and pestle in deep concentration. She was a fairly young lady, only just starting her first years into the realm of adulthood, with rich-copper skin like the sands of the desert at twilight and thick black hair tied in elegant braids decorated with many clay beads. But the feature of this woman that drew the interested eye of many suitors – both men and women – was her unique, shimmering silver eyes. Like mirrors, they reflected the light of the sun that enhanced her already attractive appearance.

Desher knew she was beautiful and could have any suitor she desired – Tutankhamen had even expressed interest in her once – but she was a humble woman who preferred to earn her way. She worked hard to gain an education and become a physician that helped the sick and weak, rarely taking any currency and only accepted small gifts as payment. Such gifts included the silver Ankh necklace she received from a grateful priest who had become ill with malaria and the lovely scarf made of red silk that was given to her by a Roman traveler who had nearly passed from fever. These were items she kept on her person most of the time, not because they were lovely, but because they were nice gestures of faith.

Desher finished with the paste she had been grinding and dumped the contents onto the wrapping paper before sealing it up with a pretty little bow. She gave the completed medicine to a woman of obvious Egyptian nobility if her fine silk clothing and glittering jewelry were any indication. Desher knew the noble had a private doctor more qualified than her for treatment, and suspected she only came down to her meager household to be alone with the silver-eyed beauty. A suspicion that was confirmed when the noble woman offered her payment in the form of a single, perfectly preserve red rose.

Desher accepted the flower with a hint of a smile on her lips. Roses, while not exactly rare, were valuable items worshipped for healing and aphrodisiac properties as well as being as powerful symbol represented by the Goddess Isis, especially in Thebes. A rose – especially a red one – was a token of true love and not something meant to be handed out lightly. The noble woman smiled sheepishly as she edged closer to Desher, her hands gently lingering on the physician's arms as if to test the water, pressing their bodies together as she gazed into those reflective silver eyes. Her lips part as Desher leaned her head forward….

" _ **Desher wasn't a thief by birth like those who would come after, but a common woman who enjoyed a simple, normal life as any other. She had never given any thought to stealing in her life…until she had no other choice.**_ "

Before their lips could meet, they heard a huge uproar coming from the streets and separated. Desher and the noblewoman ran out of the house and Desher was nearly thrown back when she almost collided with a huge crowd of people that he suddenly swarmed the area. Men and woman were howling with anger, raising their fists and threatening to through pottery. Desher had to stand on her tiptoes and found that their anger was directed toward a group of armed soldiers surrounded by a veiled litter made of solid gold carried by no less than twelve men. Seated inside the litter was a strangely pale woman garbed in the finest black silks adorned with jewels and a golden headdress that put even Desher's potential suitor to shame. She didn't know who she was – such a person was unseen in Egypt – but Desher knew she was very rich and very powerful.

" _ **In the absence of a pharaoh, a priestess named Ankhsalemun forced herself onto the throne, using her title and guile to swindle the Egyptian noblemen into surrendering their coin and bribing countless men for their loyalty. In a very short time, Ankhsalemun took control of all of Tutankhamen's territory and began a reign of oppression the likes Egypt had never seen.**_ "

Ankhsalemun gestured her men with a wave of her hand and the silent order was given. At once, chaos exploded in the streets as the soldiers shoved their way through the crowd and started smashing the trading posts, destroying all of their hard work without remorse. Anything that was seen as valuable was taken such as cloth, food, and jewelry, even stolen directly off the people themselves. Even Desher's lover was a victim as several soldiers bared down upon her, ripping away the glittering baubles from her hands and clothing until she was left kneeling on the ground in tattered rags that barely covered her modesty, tears running down her cheeks.

" _ **Greedy and heartless, Ankhsalemun stolen everything she could and horded it for herself, leaving the people destitute. The people tried to fight back, but Ankhsalemun's power was too great.**_ "

Outraged by her lover's treatment, Desher attempted to tackle the man who stole her brooch, but she was viciously backhanded across the face and thrown facedown in the dirt. When the soldiers collected all they could, Ankhsalemun was carried down the street to continue their pillage of the great city, knowing no one could stop them. Desher could only watch helplessly from her place on the ground, gritting her teeth in frustration.

" _ **Desher couldn't stand the see the injustice that Ankhsalemun was inflecting on the people, but she knew she wasn't strong enough to take on an army of trained soldiers on the priestess's payroll. So, rather than fighter back, Desher came up with another idea: she would steal it back.**_ "

Later that same night, after a long successful day of looting the poor people of everything they had, Ankhsalem took her rest in the city's sacred temple. She had forced out all the students and scholars and forbid any entry. All of her spoils were taken to an isolated chamber, where they would be moved to her traveling caravan that would leave at the first light of dawn. With guards stationed at every entrance and routine patrols around temple, it seemed almost impossible for anyone to sneak any…. Anyone who wasn't a Rose.

After the latest patrol walked around the corner of the western wing of the temple, several large bags rattled loudly as they were dropped one after another out of the high window, creating a huge pile on the ground below. And the one who was throwing the bags out of the temple was none other than Desher, who had climbed up the window using a pair of khopesh swords she had acquired from the local smith, hauling a load of flax sackcloth and a length of rope over her shoulders. Afraid that someone might recognize her, Desher had reworked her scarf to make a bright-red hood that covered her hair and obscured her face from anyone that saw her from a distance.

It took many tense-filled hours, but Desher finally collected all the stolen items, using the rope to climb back up to the window and throw them out onto the grounds. The bags were then collected by a group consisting of her smug-looking lover and two muscular men that could easily carry five sacks in each arm. As her gang disappeared into the shadows before the next patrol arrived, Desher paused for a moment, looking around the now-empty chamber, imagining the look of Ankhsalemun's face when she found that all her stolen goods were stolen…again.

To add insult to injury, Desher pulled out the red rose that her lover had gifted her and let it drop to the floor as a symbol of her victory before she disappeared into the night.

" _ **That was the first theft committed by the Rose Clan, who would gain its name from the red rose that Desher left behind as her calling card to the greedy priestess. Many nights after, Ankhsalem would try again and again to steal back what she felt was rightfully hers, only for Desher and her gang to steal it back right under her nose. Even after Ankhsalemun left Thebes, Deschet's crew continued to steal from her and the other greedy nobles who wrongfully took more than they deserved. Even the most heavily guarded and booby-trapped pyramid were no match for them. The pharaohs themselves sent armies of men after Desher, but they could never catch her, making her one of the greatest thieves in recorded history.**_

" _ **And then, one day, Desher discovered the greatest treasure of all….**_ "

Desher's boat glided listlessly down the Nile River, the crescent moon smiling at her from above and the twinkling lights of the distance city winking from afar. The silver-red woman, now older and wiser, smiled softly before she turned to her lover and the treasure she rocked gently in her arms. A child, little more than a few weeks old, snored peacefully into her mother's bosom as Desher's lover whispered a soft lullaby into her daughter's ears. Desher's heart warmed at the scene as she silently reached over, caressing the child's chubby cheeks with the gentlest of touches. Her fingers lingered for a moment on the child's brow just above her closed eyelids, knowing that underneath them were a pair of reflective silver eyes just like her own.

" _ **Having a child made Desher realize that she wouldn't be around forever. Even with Ankhsalemun mysterious disappearance, she knew that there would be others who would abuse their power and steal what was not theirs. One day, her daughter would inherit the mission that she started and Desher wanted to make sure she was prepared.**_ "

Desher sat alone at the table of the home she shared with her family, making sure not to disturb her lover and daughter as she lit a solitary candle. On the table was a book filled with black pages that Desher had purchased from distant traveler. Picking up her reed brush and dipping it in ink, Desher began to write furiously on the first page –

" _ **Desher was the first to write in our family's most ancient and sacred text – The Book of Thieves. Desher would write all her knowledge into this book and pass it down to her daughter, who would add to the book and pass it down to her daughter. For centuries, the women of the Rose Clan would add their wisdom into these hallowed pages, passing along their secrets of sneaking and stealing for the next generation, carrying on the mission that Desher started. And now, it's your turn to inherit it…Ruby.**_ "

* * *

Eight-year-old Ruby Rose's silver eyes were practically sparkling as she gazed at her mother in awe, clutching her favorite red blanket as she bounced on her mother's knee. Summer Rose chuckled as she gently closed the ancient Book of Thieves on her lap. She set the book on the side table and lifted Ruby up by her armpits, if only to spare her aching knee. She set the bubbly little girl on the floor, who was practically burst with excitement.

" _ **I've thought about that night every day since it happened,**_ " Ruby narrated. " _ **It was the day my mom told me about the Book of Thieves and the legacy of the Rose family line. Each story is still so clear in my head that I can still remember all the names of my ancestors – each one a master in their own time. And then, on my eighth birthday, it was my turn to inherit their secrets and follow in their footsteps.**_ "

"Can I really have it, mama?!" Ruby squealed, her fingers inching towards the book. "Really?!"

"You're eight-years-old now," said Summer with an amusing smile as she snatched the book out of her daughter's reach. "That was the age when my mother passed it down to me and when her mother passed it down to her. And now, it's all yours…," she slowly started lowering it down to Ruby, who reached out eagerly for it, until she swiftly pulled it back, "if you can answer a pop quiz."

"Aw, mama!" Ruby complained loudly.

"It's just a little refresher," said Summer teasingly. "What's the number one rule of the Rose Clan?"

"Oh, oh, we only steal from the bad guys!" Ruby shouted, her hand in the hair like she was being called by the teacher.

"And why is that?"

"Because there's no honor, no challenge, and no fun in stealing from ordinary people," Ruby recited with her arms crossed and a proud grin.

"That's right," Summer nodded. "Only when you've ripped off a master criminal will you be recognized as a master thief, Ruby. You have a long way to go until then, but this" – she held up the Book of Thieves – "is your first step toward that path. Here, take it."

With a gleeful gasp, Ruby reached out to take it again, knowing that this time it wasn't going to be taken away –

" _ **I was so close to receiving my birthright**_ ," said Ruby. " _ **But just when I thought it was finally within my grasp…they showed up.**_ "

Ruby's fingers were only centimeters from the book when a loud  _ **bang**_  echoed down from the hallway leading to the front door. Summer straightened up, once again pulling away the Book of Thieves before Ruby had a chance. The older woman scowled down the hallway as another  _ **bang**_  rang out. Someone was trying to break in. Ruby looked up at her mother as she jumped out of her seat and felt terrified by the scowl on her expression.

When they heard the third  _ **bang**_ , Summer immediately jumped up and crossed the room to photo of herself and Ruby on the wall. She pulled back the photo and revealed the secret safe hidden behind it, punching in the digital code to unlock it, throwing the Book of Thieves inside, before shutting it again. There was another  _ **bang**_  – this time accompanied by the tell-tale sounds of splintering wood. They were almost inside. Summer put the photo frame back into place, concealing the safe, rushed over to Ruby, and snatched up off the floor.

"Mama, what's going on?" Ruby asked in a scared voice.

Summer said nothing as she sprinted across the room and threw open the closest door. Ruby let out a tiny whimper as Summer set her down inside in the far back, partially hidden behind the coats. She put a finger to Ruby's mouth, stilling her whimpering, but still holding on to the serious expression.

"No matter what happens, do not come out, you understand me?" Summer said seriously. "I'm going to…. Just promise you'll stay here until it's over, all right?"

Ruby hesitated, but nodded, and Summer closed the door just as they heard the front entrance being broken.

Crawling deeper into the closet, Ruby wrapped her favorite red blanket over her head like a hood, closer her eyes tight, and tried to block out the noise beyond the door. There was a pair of muffled – one was loud and furious while the other was calm and chilling. And then there was chaos; a cacophony of noise pounded against her ears. She could hear glass breaking, furniture being thrown across the room, and half a dozen voices yelling over one another. Ruby whimper, but kept it soft so that no one could hear….

And just as quickly as it started, the fight ended. The house was quiet; too quiet. Though shaken and terrified, Ruby crawled up to the door, quietly turning and handle and peeking through the crack into the living room.

Ruby wished she hadn't.

The room was in tatters; all of their possessions smashed on the ground, holes adorned the walls, there was a burn mark on the carpet next to the overturned chair, and the window had been broken, spilling glass all over the floor. And right there, in the middle of the room, was Summer Rose, thrown haphazardly on her back with a huge splatter of blood across her chest and face; her silver eyes dim and unmoving. Ruby slapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from gasping too loud, tears streaming down her face.

" _ **We were attacked by a gang of heartless monsters called the Grimm,**_ " said Ruby. " _ **My mom tried to defend us, but she was overpowered by their numbers and cheap tricks. It was a dishonorable and cowardly assault against my family.**_ "

"She didn't need to die," Ruby heard a soft, rumbling voice. "She had a child. A child that is now orphaned because of us…."

"She deserved it – all of them do," a woman snapped venomusly. "What happens to the child is of no consequence. Now, about this book…."

Ruby pried her eyes away from her mother's body and stared up at the five shadows lurking near the back wall, unable to see them properly because the light had been broken in the scuffle. What she could see, however, was that the hidden wall safe had been broken up and the Book of Thieves was in the hands of who Ruby presumed was the leader.

"Just as we agreed," a woman spoke softly. "We'll divide it among ourselves five ways. We'll take the secrets the Rose Clan coveted for centuries and use them to grown our own power. The legacy of the Rose Clan will be lost and forgotten, just as it should be."

And just like that, the leader opened the book and tore out the first page for herself before another of the shadows tore out their own, and then another, and so forth until all the shadows blended together. The tearing of the pages sent a chill down Ruby's spine each time. Most of the attacks were laughing with glee and pride, though one of them – the tallest among them – seem a little subdued, not that Ruby cared to notice. And before she knew it, the last page had been ripped out and the leader tossed the now empty cover of the once sacred text on the ground, landing near the closet where Ruby was hidden. One more round of victorious laughter and the five intruders exited the house one after the other until Ruby was left all alone in still silence.

She waited almost five minutes before leaving the safety of the closet, clutching her blanket around her neck as she stepped cautiously into the open. She stooped down and picked up the cover of the Book of Thieves. As she expected, all the was left were the torn remains of where the pages used to be…. But there was also something else. She hadn't noticed before, but there was a strange, gothic cross with a silver rose braid looping around the middle nestled in the spine of the book. Ruby wondered for a moment if the attackers had seen it and thought it had no value or if they had missed it completely. But that was a question that would have to wait for another time….

Ruby padded over to her mother's body, holding the cover and necklace against her tiny chest as she dropped to her knees, her blanket-hood falling over her eyes. A choking sob escaped her lips as the tears renewed themselves, falling like waterfalls as the now-orphaned child screamed inside her cold, empty home.

" _ **That night haunted me my whole life, like it was set on endless replay,**_ " said Ruby. " _ **The neighbors heard the commotion and called the cops, but it was already too late. My mom was dead, my home was ransacked, and our family treasure was ripped into pieces and scattered to the four corners of the globe. I had nothing left. I had nobody left. I was all alone…. Or at least, I thought I was at the time.**_ "

Ruby sat alone on the hard, uncomfortable chair in the hallway of the local police station, sniffling as she held on to the Book cover and necklace, her blanket still wrapped around her head like a hood. The police had tried to confiscated them as evidence, the Ruby kicked and screamed as hard as she could until they gave up and let her keep them. Ruby didn't know how long she had been sitting there – minute? Hours? Days? Everything was a blur to her, lost in darkness of despair.

Ruby's eyes rolled up when a pair of hurried footsteps rushed up to her and her silver eyes met with the remorseful-looking, white-haired police officer that had been kind enough to stay with her during the ordeal. The tag on her police uniform said she was ' **W. Schnee** '. What was her name again, Ruby wondered? She thought she heard the others officers call her by her first name. Was it Winner? Or Wither? Ruby didn't know, and really didn't care at the moment. The kind-faced officer crouched to Ruby's eye level, holding the child's tiny hands within her own.

"Ruby…there's someone here to see you," she said.

The young orphan raised her eyes curiously then turned to the left as W. Schnee gestured to the second woman that Ruby hadn't noticed until now. She seemed familiar to Ruby. She looked to be around her mother's age, a slightly pale complexion, her lengthy mess of jet-black hair tied loosely back by a red bandanna, and her burgundy-red eyes fell sadly to meet Ruby's silver ones.

W. Schnee let the two of them alone, saying something about 'custody paperwork' to the dark-haired woman. The familiar strange stepped cautiously in front of Ruby, falling to her knees so that they could be level with one another. The woman gently wiped away the tears on Ruby's cheeks with her thumb, her own expression mournful, but rigid like she was trying to hold back for Ruby's sake. The stranger cupped Ruby's face with her larger hand, trying to put as much comfort and gentleness into the touch as possible.

"Ruby…," the woman murmured softly. "My name is Raven. We haven't seen each other since you were a baby, so you probably don't remember me…. Your mother was my best friend, and I promised her that if anything happened to her that I would take care of you…. I'm going to take you home with me. I know it hurts right now, but we'll get through it…together…."

All the sadness came spilling out of Ruby's heart once more, now that the reality of it all was finally catching up with her. Her mother was gone – her best friend was taking her away. The orphan threw herself into Raven's shoulder like she always did with her mother whenever she was sad or scared, sobbing loudly in the hallway and garnering the sympathetic stares of the officers walking past. Raven hesitated at first, but she held Ruby close to her chest, patting her head softly and letting the child get it all out.

" **Raven Branwen was one of the three thieves that worked alongside my mom back in their heyday,** " said Ruby. " **My mom knew that the Rose Clan was being hunted and reached to the others, worried about my future should our attackers finally catch up with us. Raven was the only one who responded – one of the other members was serving a life sentence in jail and the other has been missing for decades. With only my blanket, the necklace, and the cover of the Book of Thieves, I followed Raven back to her village hidden in Shunan Bamboo Forest in the southwestern parts of China.** "

Ruby stared open-mouthed at the tiny village hidden in the thick center of the tall bamboo forest that surrounded them, completely concealing them from the outside world. There were probably only little over a dozen houses made out of wood and straw – a complete contrast to the suburban life that Ruby was accustomed to – but there were at least a hundred people roaming around the small community, implying that more than a couple families shared the same residence. There was a great wooden fence that surrounded the tribe, a reinforced gate that slammed shut behind them as they entered, and it the very back of the village was a large pitched tent that was easily taller than the houses that surrounded it, likely the home of someone important.

But scattered here and there, Ruby noticed that there were several crates of supplies that looked like they didn't belong in the tribe. Wooden crates marked with foreign letters that weren't Chinese filled with bundled of fruit and water to metal containers that looked like they contained guns and metal parts. It took a minute for Ruby to realize….

"They're all thieves," she murmured.

"That's right," Raven nodded as she led the young girl across the village square. "Everyone here is a thief by trade. Many come from all over the world, looking for a place to live in peace, or just to escape the authorities until the heat dies down. There is where you'll be staying from now on."

Ruby was watching a pair of thieves showing off a bag of jewels they had stolen when someone bumped into her. They ran by so fast that Ruby barely glimpsed the pair of messy blonde pigtails whipping around behind them, shouting a quick "Sorry!" before they dashed off. But they didn't get too far as Raven, wearing an annoyed expression, easily caught the girl by the back of her shirt and lifted her off the ground. The girl kicked and flailed, but stopped when she knew she wasn't going anywhere. Raven spun the girl around, bringing Ruby face to face with a blonde girl with lilac eyes.

"Give it back to her, Yang," Raven demanded.

"I know what you could possibly mean," Yang replied in an innocently sweet tone. Raven gave her a blank stare, to which Yang frowned and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine."

The blonde girl reached inside her pocket and pulled out Ruby's gothic necklace. Ruby gasped; she hadn't even noticed that it had been lifted! Yang tossed the necklace back to Ruby and Raven finally returned her feet to the ground.

"I thought you would be proud of how good I stole it," Yang grumbled, pouting with her arms crossed.

"Number one, stealing from a little girl is hardly a challenge," Raven berated her. Her eyes turned soft as she gestured Yang's attention to Ruby. "And number two…this is Ruby Rose…. Her mother died recently, so she'll be staying with us."

"Oh," Yang muttered, casting a sad glance. "Um…I'm sorry…about your mom and for stealing from you."

"It's all right…," Ruby barely muttered.

"Ruby, this is my daughter, Yang," said Raven, clapping Yang's shoulder. "I hope you two will get along with each other, because from now on, we're going to be a family."

Yang offered Ruby a kind, if not somewhat sympathetic smile as she held out her hand to the young girl. Ruby hesitated for a moment, raising and dropping her hand several times before she finally grasped Yang's fingers in her own. Raven kneeled down beside them, smiling kindly, and she pulled both girls closer to her.

" **That was the first time I met Yang,** " said Ruby. " **Though I didn't realize it when I first got there, Yang and Raven would become like my new family. Raven was a strict woman with a harsh survivalist mentality that hardly let Yang and I get away with any mischief, but she was also fair in her own way. Yang was like the big sister I never had; loud, boisterous, always getting into trouble and typically ending up in the 'time-out prison cell' as Raven liked to call it, and always ended up dragging me down with her. It was different from the life I grew up with, but it was a pretty good life all things considered.**

" **But growing up in a community make up entirely of thieves only reminded me of what was stolen from me. My mom was gone, but the Book of Thieves was still out there. My family's greatest treasure was still in the hands of those filthy monsters, using all the secrets of the book to commit dastardly crimes. I was just going to sit around and do nothing while the Rose Clan's legacy was being dragged through the mud. That was when I knew what I had to do.** "

A montage of scenes soon followed. They started with Ruby, barely a few months after she arrived in the village, trying to pickpocket various villagers and even steal from Raven herself when the dark-haired woman was busy with her community meetings. But in the end, Ruby would always lose out to the more experienced thieves, caught before she even had a chance to make the grab. But surprisingly, instead of scolding her for it, Raven and the thieving community offered her tips and tricks to help improve her skills. Ruby could feel the Rose Clan legacy pulsing in her blood as she absorbed all the knowledge that was given to her like a sponge, committing everything she had learned to memory and already preparing for her next attempt.

Many years later, an older Ruby Rose just about to enter into her teenage years was casually robbing her fellow tribesmen blind without them noticing until she was long gone. The people she stole from swelled with pride knowing how far that sad little girl had come in such a short period of time. Even Raven was bursting with joy when Ruby managed to swipe the woman's most prized possession, an ancestral tribesman helmet, literally under her nose while her partner-in-crime, Yang, distracted her. In what seemed like no time at all, Ruby had become one of the best thieves in the entire tribe, if not the best period. But Ruby knew she had a long way to go and it was time to expand her horizons.

As the years flew by, Ruby and Yang joined the tribe on their missions outside the village, venturing into the nearby cities for the bigger jobs. They swiped bags of money from local drug dealers, left no traces of stolen paintings and rare vases for corrupt business to find, and casually dodged the police like it was a mildly amusing video game. The whole time, Ruby and Yang were laughing along the way, taunting their pursuers.

Not long after all the fun and games were over, Ruby and Yang were waving good bye to Raven and the men and women that helped raised them as they departed through the open gates, lugging a pair of backpacks consisting of only their most essential possessions. The blanket that Ruby had kept since the night of her mother's murder was now tattered and filled with small holes, but she wouldn't throw it away – instead, it would become her cape and hood, modeling herself after Desher Rose from the story her mother told her all those years ago. The gothic necklace clattered against her growing chest, held by a chain that had once been attached to a wallet she stole, and the cover of the Book of Thieves was tucked away in her backpack, waiting to be filled once more.

" **I learned everything I know from the Raven and the villagers, amassing a wealth of knowledge that could rival the Book of Thieves,** " said Ruby. " **I honed my craft until I knew I was ready to strike it out as a master thief with Yang by my side through thick and thin. Along the way, she met Blake Belladonna, a master of disguise and cunning thief, and Weiss Schnee, international hacker and strategist supreme.** "

A final shot showed the members of the Rose Gang situated on the corner of the rooftop with the moon illuminating them from behind. Ruby standing in the middle with her hood pulled up and her cape billowing in the wind behind her; Weiss with her cool expression and a causal glance at her laptop; Blake discarding the ribbon that hid her ears and the sunglasses to expose her golden eyes; and Yang punching her knuckles into the palm with a cocky grin on her lips.

" **With their help, I vowed to track down the Grimm, avenge my mom, and steal back the Boom of Thieves,** " said Ruby. " **I know I'm facing the toughest test of my life. On this mission, I'll either become a master thief like my ancestors before me, or fail and allow my family name bite the dust.** "

* * *

The Rose Gang van was silent as the four of them drove down the long stretch of empty road outside of Vale city, the only sound coming from the vehicle's engine. Yang's eyes were firmly on the road, but she was listening attentively as Ruby told the story to Weiss and Blake. The other two, for their part, didn't seem as disturbed by the purpose of their gang's creation as Ruby feared, but they weren't saying much either.

"And that's the whole story," Ruby concluded. "I'm going after the Grimm and I going to steal back the Book of Thieves. I'm sorry for not telling you guys earlier, but I was afraid of how you guys might react if you knew what we were up to. I understand if you wanted to qu – "

"Would you shut up already; I'm thinking!" Weiss snapped impatiently. Ruby immediately shut her mouth fearfully. Weiss spun around in her chair and tapped the keyboard of her computer at blinding speeds, opening and closing several windows in the blink of an eye. "All right, so our next target is the Grimm, is that it? I can search through the dark web to see if I can find any information about their whereabouts, but it could take some time. Based on what Ruby told us, these guys are well-organized."

"That's what the file is for," said Yang, snatching the manila folder from Ruby's hand and tossing it back to Weiss without looking. "Winter's been doing her own investigation ever since she pieced together that Ruby was that little girl whose mom died a long time ago. She looked up all the names and locations of everyone in the Grimm. She probably thought we were going to be hunting them down for revenge."

"Well, she's not wrong," Blake said as she snuck a peek at the file. "Hmm…I've heard at least two of these people during my time before I joined the team. I can try calling in some favors from my old contacts to see if we can get an in with any of them."

"That would be helpful, but I already know who one of these people are and he'll definitely be a nightmare if we try hacking them," said Weiss exasperatedly. "We might want to consider taking him out first just so that the others can't block us out when I breach their computers – "

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Ruby shouted, waving her hands in the air sporadically, staring at Weiss and Blake dumbfoundedly. "So you guys are…okay with this? You're going to help?"

"Of course we are, you dolt!" Weiss snapped. "Your family was murdered and these monsters stole what rightfully belongs to you! This type of injustice is the reason why I became a hacker in the first place! They will be punished for their crimes!"

"Wow, haven't heard Hardcore Weiss since we pulled the Schnee Company Job," said Yang, grinning from ear-to-ear. "I like Hardcore Weiss!"

"Ruby, we're a family," said Blake kindly, leaning forward and holding one of her leader's hands. "We made a promise to always stand by each other no matter what. If this is important for you, then it's important to us. I swear to you, we will avenge your mother. You can count on us."

Ruby wanted to cry right now, but held herself back; a leader doesn't cry! The Rose Thief flipped around back in her seat, smiling to herself as she heard Weiss and Blake work hard following up all leads on the Grimm in the back. She noticed that Yang was smirking at her, but didn't say anything. It was finally happening – she was finally going to steal back the Book of Thieves – and no one was going to stop her.

* * *

Winter moaned aggressively as she rubbed her aching head, slouching forward in her desk in a most ungraceful fashion. Tonight had been a disaster of epic proportions. She had Ruby Rose within her grasp, and let an idiot, she had let her slip through her fingers –  _again!_  And on top of everything else, all the damages to the police cruisers was coming out of her paycheck for the next month.

Winter ran a hand down her face, groaning. Even after all this time, she could hardly believe that the little girl who cried on her shoulder all those years ago would turn out to be one of the biggest pains in her ass. Sometimes she wished she could just go back in time and slap the cuffs on her before the Raven woman took her away – ethics be damned.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. Winter muttered a quick 'It's open!' and rolled her eyes up as the door opened. The white-haired officer immediately jumped to her feet as a stern-looking blonde woman wearing thin glasses stepped into the office with a deep scowl on her face. Of all the rotten luck, Winter cursed. It wasn't enough that Ruby Rose made a fool of her again, but now she had to deal with Secretary-General in her office.

"Miss Goodwitch, what a surprise," said Winter, maintaining a formal tone. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Clearly," said Goodwitch coolly, glancing at the conspiracy board on the wall. "I heard that Ruby Rose broke into your office and stole some classified documents right out from under you – again."

"It's more complicated than that, ma'am," Winter retorted.

"And I'm sure you'll tell me all about it in your report," said Goodwitch, turning a cold shoulder. "What did she steal this time?"

"A highly detailed profile on herself based on all the information I've collected over the past three years," said Winter dutifully. "I believe she intends to use this information to hunt down the criminal organization known as the Grimm."

"Interesting," Goodwitch hummed thoughtfully. "The Grimm are at the top of INTERPOL's most wanted list, but we haven't had anything concrete to charge them with. They're practically untouchable. What's Rose's motive for going after them?"

"All of my investigations lead me to believe that the Grimm were responsible for the murder of Ruby Rose's mother, Summer Rose, nearly a decade ago," answered Winter. "I believe she is planning to take revenge on them for her death."

Goodwitch bowed her head, closing her eyes in thought for a moment, then turned back to Winter, declaring: "I want you to follow up on this, Inspector Schnee, and do it quickly. You and your partner are to find and arrest Ruby Rose and her gang before they cause irreparable damage. The last thing we need is for a dangerous group like the Grimm to start causing trouble."

"I will get on it right – wait," Winter cut herself off, giving Goodwitch a strange look. "Did you say partner?"

"That's right – I'm assigning you a partner from now on," said Goodwitch. "He's still a little green, but training under INTERPOL's most decorated officer should help him get up to speed."

"With all due respect, ma'am, I work better alone," said Winter.

"You record with the Rose Gang says otherwise," said Goodwitch sternly. "You've been chasing them for three years with little to no success. I think it's high time we get a fresh outlook on the situation with Ruby Rose. You know what they say: two heads are better than one. And before you think of talking back to me" – Goodwitch snapped as Winter opened her mouth – "this is not a request. Either you two work together or you can turn in your badge."

Winter closed her mouth compliantly, but scowled darkly at her superior. Satisfied, Goodwitch turned back to the door and called out, "Come in, please!"

The door opened and the first thing that Winter noted about her new partner was how  _young_ he was; he looked to only be a few years younger than Ruby Rose. He was very short in stature, his complexion tanned and dotted with freckles, his head topped with a messy mop of black hair, and his eyes hazel with shades of green, yellows, and oranges. He dressed in various shades of olive-green, dark-red, and orange – his entire ensemble giving him an oriental feel to him. But it wasn't just his youth that made Winter less than enthusiastic – he was obviously very nervous to be working with Winter as well, twitching and laughing anxiously at nothing at all.

"Uh…hi," said the boy weakly, chuckling apprehensively. "Um…my name's Oscar Pines. I'm still pretty knew, but um…I look forward to working with…you?"

Winter stared at him for a long minute…then slammed her forehead on her desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Fun fact – Desher's name is played off the ancient Egyptian word deshr, which was the earliest word for red and deshret, which means red land. So yeah, the Rose Clan traditionally follows the color rule, mostly pertaining to the color red.
> 
> For the origins, I wanted to get into how the Rose Clan to exist and the circumstances behind the creation of the Book of Thieves, something I felt was left out of the Sly Cooper games, who seemed to only start a thieving legacy based on a basic Robin Hood Complex and then just continued for centuries for sport. Plus, I wanted to delve into the years between Ruby's orphanage and the days she became a thief – another plot line that sadly went untold and just wrapped up in ten seconds. I considered adding the parts where Ruby and Yang met Weiss and Blake, but if this story gets far enough, I might just use them as plot points for future stories instead.
> 
> And, of course, couldn't resist putting everyone's favorite farm boy in. And as Winter's partner no less.


	3. The Menace in the Mahine

The wind howled in her ears as Ruby stared out the vibrating window into the dreary darkness. By the flash of the continuous bolts of lightning, Ruby could see the rolling waves crashing into them from all sides, threatening to tip them over at any moment. She silently wondered if the little tug boat they had boarded would be enough to weather the storm raging outside. But their captain didn't seem to be worried, so Ruby didn't think there was any reason she should be, though the roaring thunderclaps still made her uneasy.

The Rose Thief turned away from the window and looked around the cabin to see how the rest of her crew was handling it. Blake was practically sitting on Yang's lap, her head pressed into the blonde's bountiful bosom, but Ruby knew it wasn't her trying to act flirty with her girlfriend – Blake didn't do flirty. Blake wasn't afraid of the water as Ruby suspected when she first met her – not like a blue-haired associate of theirs – but she didn't like storms because the loud noises were even more intense due to her Faunus hearing. Yang, on the other hand, was smiling from ear-to-ear like it was Christmas morning and Blake was her present, rubbing the Faunus girl's ears when she had the chance. Weiss rolled her eyes at the display ("Jealous?" Yang teased) and worked vigorously on her laptop, likely trying to gather as much information on their next job as possible. How she managed to get a reception in the middle of this storm was a mystery to Ruby.

With her crew accounted for, Ruby crossed the cabin and approached the captain standing cautiously at the wheel, staring out the darkened window with intense focus.

"Thanks for doing this for us, Matte," Ruby told them gratefully. "It's surprisingly hard to find people who are qualified to steer a boat  _and_ not throw us to the cops when we ask them for a lift."

"You've got nothing to worry about with me, Rose," said Matte Skye, grinning back at Ruby. "I know you're a good lot, even if you are thieves. Plus, I owe you for stealing back our cruise ship after it was stolen by the Sea Feilong pirates. I would have lost my job if not for you chaps."

"We were just doing what we thought was right," said Ruby, remembering that particular heist fondly. "Those dirty pirates didn't stop at stealing money from innocent people on vacation – they stole an entire ship and left everyone stranded on a deserted island. We were more than happy to steal it back from them  _and_ leave a nice little present for our favorite INTERPOL officer."

"Wasn't that the job where Yang punched a shark's teeth out and Blake got food poisoning from bad sushi?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah, good times," said Yang amusingly.

"Well, it'll be a while before we get to Gale Island," said Matte Skye. "You all rest up and I tell you when we're there."

Ruby nodded in acknowledgement and walked to the back of the cabin, taking a seat next to Weiss, who was still tapping furiously on her personal computer. Making herself comfortable on the floor, Ruby reached inside her backpack and whipped out the file she had stolen from Winter's office only last week, flipping through the pages one by one. She had to admit that Winter covered all her bases: she jotted down Ruby's history from her mother's murder to her first heist in China, mapped out all of her habits and tells, and even made a very detailed profile of her current tricks and techniques; Ruby made a mental note to learn some new strategies. But what she was looking for was near the back of the file – a list of names, backgrounds, and current locations of almost every member of the Grimm.

" _ **The boat ride over gave me the time I needed to study up on Dr. Arthur Watts**_ ," Ruby narrated.

She concentrated on the profile picture of a middle-aged Englishman with short, graying hair and a thick mustache. As she read his profile, she imagined him in his younger days, his hair full black and lacking his mustache as he worked in a laboratory, assembling various mechanical parts until it forms a full robot body. Next, Ruby imagine him much older, his mustache starting to grow in, as Dr. Watts attached the skeleton of a robot arm to a soldier's amputated arm. Both the doctor and the soldier were immeasurably pleased when the soldier's robot arm started moving freely as if it were the real thing. And then, she could see Dr. Watts – mustache fully grown – standing among a gathering of peers as he was given an award for his scientific achievements.

" _ **As a young man, Arthur Watts was considered a prodigal genius with a talent for computer sciences and mechanical engineering,**_ " said Ruby. " _ **By the time he was twenty-five, he was already making great strides in the field of prosthetics and orthotics using reflexive neuro-sciences that not only simulated human limbs, but actually improved upon them, making them faster, stronger, and more durable than any before. Watts became a huge celebrity in many scientific circles and everyone thought he was going to revolutionize the world. Unfortunately, Watts thought the same thing, but went in a completely different direction….**_ "

Now Ruby could imagine the middle-aged doctor standing over a poor redheaded girl who strapped down on a laboratory table while Watts stood over them with a power drill in one hand and a robot arm in the other. It was unknown how much progress the doctor had actually made before the door to his lab was kicked open and a dozen armed soldiers charged into the room. The Rose Thief could almost see Dr. Watts arguing his case against the tribunal before he was quieted by the pounding of the gavel and was sent away, his head hanging in defeat while his eyes burned with a passionate flame.

" _ **Watts didn't just want to fix people – he wanted to improve humanity as a species,**_ " said Ruby. " _ **Humans were full of weaknesses and flaws in the good doctor's eyes, something he found disgusting and took it upon himself to correct. His idea was to replace all the things that made a person weak – exhaustion, hunger, sickness – and correct them by replacing their human bodies with soulless machines. When he decided to test his idea, Watts kidnapped the daughter of a fellow scientist and performed a number of experiments on her. But before he knew it, Dr. Watts was arrested by the military and disgraced in the eyes of the scientific community.**_ "

A vengeful-looking Dr. Watts was sitting in his prison cell until the barred doors flew open and the former scientists stared up at his mysterious savior in awe. In the next image, Dr. Watts posed alongside the remaining four silhouetted members of the Grimm as they stood under their group's banner: a vertical eye surrounded by an archaic circle with five crystals at the bottom.

" _ **Dr. Watts, driven by revenge and a desire to see his plans carried out, was brought into the Grimm as chief technician, where his evil tinkering genius rose to new heights. The last reported sighting of this mad scientist was in the heart of Gale Island off the northeastern coast of England. A small island that has recently been plagued with mysterious storms over the past few years, making travel to the island nearly impossible. But that's not going to stop us. One way or another, we're going to put an end to this Mad Scientist's mechanical mayhem once and for all**_!"

* * *

Ruby Rose and the Gang

In

_**The Menace in the Machine** _

* * *

Docking had somehow been even more difficult than sailing through the storm since they couldn't make landfall the normal way without Dr. Watt's security noticing them. They had gone around the side of the island where the hills were higher and could keep them out of sight of the roaming spotlights that flashed over their heads. Twice they had nearly run aground because of the waves crashing into them, but Matte Skye's skill behind the wheel managed to keep them from crashing.

After fifteen distressing minutes of floating around the island, they were able to find a small hidden shore on the southwestern part of Gale Island. Matte Skye temporarily dropped anchor next to the shore and dropped a gangplank to let the Rose Gang cross over to semi-dry land. Blake was, of course, the first one off the boat, making a beeline for the trees to take shelter under, while Yang, laughing her ass off, followed shortly after, carrying the bag of tools they thought would be necessary for the job. Ruby and Weiss had to jump off as a pair because Weiss wanted to use Ruby's cape as a shield to keep the rain from reaching her precious laptop, not that the Rose Thief minded. Once all four members were safely ashore, Matte Sky pulled back the gangplank and started raising the anchor.

"I need to be casting off before my boss realizes that I took his boat without permission!" Matte Skye howled over the raging storm. "You blokes take care of yourselves! And watch out for that Watts chap! Locals say he's a nasty wanker!"

"We'll be fine!" Ruby called back, waving good bye. "We'll call you when we need a lift back to the mainland!"

The sailor offered them a quick salute, then turned their ship around and disappeared into the stormy sea.

Ruby and Weiss quickly joined Blake and Yang under the cover of the trees; Blake was still clinging to Yang, trying to block out the thunder by covering her cat ears, while the blonde held their supply bag over her head to protect her precious hair. Much to Ruby's chagrin, Weiss sat herself on one of the driest rocks available, using her leader's cape to pitch a tent over herself while she opened her laptop. The Rose Thief looked over the hacker's shoulder as she brought up an overhead view of Gale Island, zooming in several times until the digital image locked on to the Rose Gang huddled under the trees; Ruby waved up to the sky, only to get slapped by Weiss.

"I've got satellite imaging of Gale Island – or at least as much as I can focus on," said Weiss. "The storm is making it difficult to get a proper read of the area. And there appears to be something else…. Something unusual…." Weiss trailed off, leaning closer to the screen.

"Can your satellite thingy tell us where we can get out of the rain?" Yang asked, shaking her head like a wet dog, splashing them even more. "I'm getting soaked."

"Yeah, yeah," Weiss said nonchalantly, rolling the image around. "There should be a tunnel around here that leads to the outer perimeter of Watts's base of operation. From the looks of it, the route inside has the weakest security on the whole island."

"Then what're we waiting for?" Blake cried, flinching from another thunderclap. "Let's get out of here already!"

The rest of the gang didn't need much convincing. As they trekked through the wilderness, Yang kept her arm firmly wrapped around Blake's shoulder, which significantly calmed her even if she still flinched from the loud bangs of thunder. Thankfully, the journey was short and they found the entrance to an old, naturally made tunnel at the base of a steep cliff. The entrance had been sealed off by a gate, but it didn't seem like a lot of effort went into blocking it and the flimsy bars were rusted over. Yang ripped the gate out of the wall with little effort, stepping aside to let the others in before replacing the bars behind them. Once they were all safely inside, Yang opened up the tool bag and tossed a towel to everyone, having the foresight to carry a few when headed to a stormy island in the middle of the sea.

"Geez, what is up with this freaky weather?" Yang complained, mopping her wild mane. "Is it just me, or does the storm just seem to get stronger the further we head inland."

"It's not just you," said Weiss, pulling up her laptop again. "Satellite weather imaging shows that the storm clouds are nearly covering the entire island…except for the section in the middle, which just so happens to be where Dr. Watts is hiding out. It's the only place on the entire island that isn't being bombarded with sleet and hail."

"That's not natural, is it?" asked Ruby.

"Of course it's not," said Weiss, rolling her eyes. "Obviously this isn't a natural storm. Watts must be doing something to create a perpetual storm around the island, likely to keep out any unwanted intruders. And he seems to – ugh, come on," Weiss groaned, slapping her laptop irritably. Ruby leaned over her shoulder and saw that the computer screen was partially fragmented before it returned to normal. "Something's not right with my computer. It's acting…odd."

"Well, we are in the middle of a hurricane," said Yang.

"Yang, you're not the bright bulb of the bunch, so leave the thinking to the people who are," said Weiss insultingly, earning a growl from Yang. "A storm wouldn't cause this kind of interference. There's something else to it. But I can't work with all this thunder drumming in my ears. We should head to the center of the island where it's clear."

"Yeah, there might be a problem with that," said Blake from the opposite end of the tunnel.

Ruby, Weiss, and Yang padded over to Blake, who was leaning her head cautiously outside the tunnel exit, her ears flat against her head as the thunder clapped above them. The rest of the group joined her in a comical lineup with Ruby on her hands and knees at the bottom, Weiss leaning over her back, Blake hover over the hacker, and Yang standing dangerous on her tiptoes over the Faunus. They were all staring in the direction of a tall, wrought-iron gate that blocked off the entire valley leading into the heart of the island. Under normal circumstances, Ruby could have just easily climbed the walls with Crescent Rose and unlocked the gate from the other side, but there were a pair of tough-looking guards standing attentively on the other side of the gate. Beyond them was a series of roaming spotlights that Ruby suspected where designed to trigger an alarm if anyone stepped underneath.

"Well, that's going to complicate things," said Weiss.

"Should we try to find another way around?" asked Blake.

"It would take too long," said Weiss, shaking her head. "Besides, every other entrance is a hundred times more fortified. This is our best bet if we want to get in without alerting the whole island."

"But we can't climb over without the guards spotting us," said Yang, frowning. "And we can't knock out the guards quietly because they're on the other side of the fence. And if we try to force our way over and take out the guards, those spotlights are gonna find us while we're in the middle of fight. Then we'll be dealing with a whole island of baddies."

"Aw, you're worrying too much," said Ruby, waving off her concern nonchalantly. "I've totally got a plan to get us in, but we need to do something about those lights first. They're probably running on some kind of computer, so do you think you can hack into them, Weiss?"

"Hmph, can I?" said Weiss with a confident smirk.

"…Can you – ?"

"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped.

"Just clarifying!" Ruby yelped, throwing her hands up in surrender. "If Weiss can take care of the lights, Blake, Yang, and I can take out the guards. Easy-peasy."

"What's the plan, lil' sis?" asked Yang eagerly.

"Time for Operation: Anchovy!" Ruby declared enthusiastically.

"Wha – Operation: Anchovy? Are you being seriously?" asked Blake, staring dumbfoundedly at her grinning leader. "Ruby, we're on an uncharted island in the middle of the biggest storm in history. There's no way those guards are dumb enough for fall for Operation: Anchovy."

The two burly guards paced back and forth behind the gate as they were assigned to do, irritably pulling on the hoods of their ponchos when they started slipping down. Neither one of them were too happy to be stuck guarding the back entrance to the island, deep in the creepy wilderness, in the most least likely place anyone would enter. If it wasn't for the fact that the doctor paid them handsomely for walking around, they probably would have left a long time ago.

They were doing what seemed like their hundredth round for the night, their boots squelching through the mud, when the searchlight over their heads suddenly went out. Both guards grunted curiously as they looked up. A second searchlight went down shortly after the first, and then the next one in line, until, one-by-one, the path behind them was cloaked in darkness.

"Oy, what's all this then?" said the first guard with a heavy English accent.

"Bloody doctor probably forgot to pay the electric bill – again," grunted the second guard.

"You would think a bloke who owns his own island wouldn't be so cheap," sneered the first guard.

They suddenly heard something knocking on the gates followed by someone shouting, "Like, pizza delivery for ya, bruh!" The guards spun around and approached the gates with deep scowls as they peered through the bars. Oddly enough, they noticed Blake with her long, black hair pulled up in a ponytail dressed in a plain t-shirt and  _very_ short shorts that Yang was absolutely  _loving_ from behind, topped with a cap labeled " _ **Rosy Pizzas**_ " in fancy looped writing. She was carrying a pizza box with the same label and a picture of a cartoonish version of Ruby smiling while giving a thumbs-up with one hand and holding a steaming pizza in the other. The guards grunted in an obviously confused way before the first guard said, "What the bloody 'ell you want?"

"Like, got yer pizza right here, broskis," said Blake in a thick, stereotypical surfer's accent. "Like, for some doctor dude or whatevs. So, like, can ya let me in, or – ?"

The guards looked at each other again, and the second guard said, "We didn't order any pizza."

"Aw, c'mon, bruh," Blake whined theatrically. "My boss dude is, like, totally gonna bust me down, bruh, if I don't deliver this. Cut a girl a break, bruh!"

"We're telling you, we didn't order any pizza," said the first guard. "Now go away."

"Aw man," Blake complained, her shoulders slumped. "But it's, like, already paid for and stuff."

That seemed to catch the guard's attention right away. A pizza that was paid for meant it was free, and they would have to be completely stupid not to accept a free pizza from a random stranger that showed up in the middle of nowhere.

Unbelievably, the guards threw the gates wide open and stomped up to the disguised Faunus, completely overlooking Yang, who was crouching conspicuously on the side. The brainless brutes zeroed in on the pizza box, snatching it swiftly out of Blake's hands without even a 'Thank you'. Blake slowly walked backwards away from the guards, her hands folded behind her back with a Cheshire grin. They were practically salivating when the guards threw the box open, happiness and hope gleaming in their eyes. That glint instantly died when they looked inside and found no pizza.

"Oy, what gives?" the first guard complained.

"Hold on, there's a note inside," said the second guard. He picked up the sheet of paper, focusing his eyes on the tiny writing as he read aloud. "'Sorry…for…the…headache…' What heada – "

Neither one of them noticed that Yang had practically strutted up behind them until she grabbed both guards by the heads and knocked them together so hard that there was an audible " _ **THUNK**_ " before they slumped facedown into the muddy ground. Yang clapped her hands, cackling, as Ruby came out from her hiding spot and poked the guards with a stick she found. Yep, they were unconscious, all right.

"Did I mention how much I love Operation: Anchovy?" said Yang proudly.

"Yeah, it's kinda funny that they fall for that one all the time," said Ruby, still poking the guards.

"No, I mean the part where I get to see Blake in those  _really_ tight shorts," said Yang, grinning perversely. "I can't get enough of that Bella-booty."

Blake walked out from the cave at that moment, dressed in her normal clothes, much to Yang's disappointment, and said, "I swear, Yang, if you keep saying that, then this 'Bella-booty' will having you sleeping on the couch for the next six months."

"Hey, if you got it, flaunt it," said Yang enthusiastically, throwing her arm around her girlfriend's shoulders while the Faunus girl rolled her eyes.

"UGGGGHHH! Weiss, please tell us where to go next before we have another incident like the one in Rio de Janeiro," Ruby groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose irritably as Yang threw back her head with a barking laugh and Blake, turning red as Ruby's hood, muttered something about 'parade floats'. But when the hacker didn't respond, Ruby looked up at Weiss, who was sitting on a rock and staring at her laptop with a deep furrow on her brow. "Weiss, are you okay?"

"It's happening again," Wiess mumbled distractedly, absentmindedly tapping the keypad. "Some kind of an interference…or a type of bug – I don't know, something just doesn't feel right about this…. I'll run a thorough scanning algorithm just in case," she added vaguely, her fingers springing to life across the keyboard."

"Well, while you're doing that, you might want to take a look at this!" Yang called, having climbed the muddy hill above them.

Ruby and Blake trekked up the slippery, carrying Weiss by her underarms, who was more focused on her laptop than the mud being splattered all over her nice, clean clothes. They joined Yang at the top of the hill and the blonde pointed out at something in the distance. Ruby pulled out her binoculars for a better look.

The first thing that caught her eye was the strange patch of starry clear sky as if it had been cut out of the clouds, leaving the small town underneath dry and storm free. At least a hundred men were moving in between the buildings, carrying crates of various items like circuit boards, electrical wires, slabs of different metals, and Ruby wasn't certain, but she thought she saw one of them carrying a robot head. And hovering over the town was a large metal airship emblazoned with a giant, stylized " _W_ " that was emitting a massive amount of black smog that wafted into the surrounding storm clouds.

"How much you wanna bet the good doctor's in there?" Yang said to Ruby, referring to the airship.

"It does seem like the most fortified place in the whole area," said Blake, her Faunus eyes giving her a better view of the town in the pitch darkness. "But it's very strange. The entire island is being drenched in this storm, but the town is the only place that's clear. Why is that?"

"Maybe it has something to do with that ship," Ruby suggested, turning her binoculars toward the flying fortress. "You see that smoke that's coming out of it? Maybe that's what's causing the storm."

"Whoa, whoa, back up," said Yang astoundingly. "Are you saying the doc invented a machine that  _controls the weather_?"

"Even if he is a villain, Doctor Watts is a certified genius," said Weiss, showing that she was paying attention even if her eyes never left the laptop. "It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility if he invented a weather machine. It would explain why the storms never let up around here. He probably uses it to keep people away from the island."

"People like us, you mean," Blake added.

"It doesn't matter," said Ruby determinedly. "Because rain or shine, we're going to steal back the Book of Thieves. And if Watts gets in the way, then we'll just take him down, too."

"Aw, I'm so proud of you, sis!" Yang squealed joyfully, trapping Ruby in a headlock.

"Yang – chocking –  _CHOCKING!_ " Ruby wheezed, quickly tapping out.

"We might wanna hold up on the frontal assault until we actually manage to sneak into that town," said Blake, turning to Weiss. "Speaking of which, how are we going to do that without the hundreds of guards noticing us? Just asking."

"Huh? What?" said Weiss inattentively, finally snapping out of it when she realized Blake was talking to her. "Oh, right, getting in. Yeah, hold on a minute." Ruby and the others glanced at one another, frowning as Weiss viciously tapped the keyboard. It wasn't like Weiss to lose focus during a mission. "Right…yes…okay, I've got it. I think it goes without saying that Watts will have the whole town guarded from all sides. Goons located at the front gates, the back gates, and every opening in the outer perimeter. With all the searchlights flying around, chances of sneaking in through an aerial drop is next to impossible. Which, unfortunately, leaves only one option left."

"We have to underground," Blake concluded.

"As much as it disgusts me, yes," said Weiss, grimacing. "There's an opening into the sewer system nearby. If we climb through, we should be able to reach the heart of the town unnoticed. Afterwards, we can set up a base of operations and start plotting the next phase of the mission, and hopefully find a shower with running hot water."

"Yeah, I'm all for being dirty, but not that dirty," said Yang in a joking tone.

"Somehow, I get the impression the sewers are cleaner than your mind, Xiao Long," said Weiss bluntly, to which Yang did not retort.

Ruby and her gang slowly slid down the muddy pathway, though Yang had to throw Weiss over her shoulder when the hacker was too enthralled with her constantly glitching computer. The band of thieves cautiously ducked in between the trees as they walked around the outer edge of the town, ducking below the bushes when a searchlight flashed near their location. Weiss was none too thrilled to be repeatedly throw down into various degrees of mud puddles, which Yang was no doubt doing on purpose, and Ruby wasn't too happy either; she liked Weiss's pretty snow-white hair. It took close to Half an hour of dodging and sneaking before they made it to the back of the town.

Just as Weiss had predicted, the back entrance to Watt's personal village was heavily guarded by four soldiers armed to the teeth, much more dangerous than the two from the jungle trek. But the gang disregarded them and continued moving forward until they reached the very edge of the island leading to a steep cliff. Ruby and Yang leaned over the edge, staring down at the dark waters crashing against the rocks with the force of speeding trucks. They scanned left and right across the face of the cliff until –

"Ruby, over there!" Yang shouted urgently.

It was difficult to see through the blustery winds, but Yang was able to point out an exposed pipe lodged into the side of the cliff, spilling out a steady stream of something that Ruby didn't want to think about. The pipe was large enough to fit them all as long as they crouched, but that also put their faces closer to whatever…waste products were being dumped. But, Ruby thought resolutely, they didn't have a choice. Just think about the Book of Thieves, she told herself – think about the Book of Thieves….

The Rose Thief withdrew a length of rope from her backpack and handed one end off to Yang, who tied it around the trunk of a nearby tree while Ruby wrapped the other end around her waist. She then pulled out Crescent Rose, stabbing the miniature scythe into the rock wall before climbing down the cliffside.

"I told you it was a climbing axe," Weiss decided to point out when Ruby was halfway down the rock.

"It's a scythe, you dummy!" Ruby retorted vehemently.

Weiss rolled her eyes with a noncommittal noise before diving back into her laptop, her brow furrowed as her fingers danced across the keyboard. Meanwhile, Ruby continued climbing down the cliffside when one of the footholds broke under her boot, nearly causing the Rose Thief to fall off had she not been clinging to Crescent Rose. Yang was tempted to pull her sister up right there, but Ruby sharply waved her off the moment she felt the blonde tugging at the rope; Yang frowned, but reluctantly let go. A few more tension-filled moments later, Ruby had successfully managed to climb down beside the pipe, only to be met with a new problem.

"Of course he would seal up the sewers," said Ruby, grimacing at the rusted metal bars covering the pipe. She grabbed one of the bars and pulled; the grate made a dangerous creaking noise. "Hmm…doesn't look like it would take much leverage to break open, but I can't use Crescent Rose or I'd drop…. Hey, girls!" She called up to her team. "You got anything sturdy up there that I can pry this open with?"

"Sturdy how?" Blake called back.

"This vent is pretty much rusted to heck!" Ruby shouted up. "I just need something tough so that I can take it off of the opening! Like a crowbar, or something!"

"Don't know where we're going to find a crowbar in the middle of the forest," said Blake, but nonetheless looking around.

"Maybe I could climb down there and rip it off with my bare hands," Yang suggested enthusiastically.

"Yang, you would slip on the rocks and die," Blake rejected immediately, making Yang deflate. "We need something like…. Hold on a minute…."

Blake turned Yang around and opened their tool bag, shuffling through the towels and various supplies they brought with them until she found what she was looking for. Ruby wasn't the only one with a thieving weapon, she reminded them – Blake had her own Kusarigama (or "chain-sickle" as the cultureless heathens liked to call it) forged from black steel, emblazoned with her personal emblem on the handle, and attached to a long stretch of black ribbon for long distance attacks. She called it Gambol Shroud, though Yang thought Kitty Claw was a better name.

Blake carefully walked over to the edge, kneeled down, and began lowering Gambol Shroud by its ribbon. Ruby fumbled to grab the weapon, then turned to the rusted grate blocking their way. The Rose Thief stabbed the bladed tip with all her might, lodging it between the small crevice with a skin-crawling screech. It was a lot more difficult to apply pressure with Gambol Shroud than Crescent Rose since Crescent Rose had a lot more surface area – and the fact that she was hanging fifteen feet in the air from a watery grave. Ruby grunted loudly for her efforts, practically throwing her whole body against the chain-sickle, until she heard the relieving  _ **pop**_  of the rusted bolts coming loose. One more push, and Ruby finally dislodged more than half the lug nuts off the grate and pulled it open just far enough to create an opening.

Ruby held the handle of Gambol Shroud between her teeth – Blake would be so angry if she lost her weapon – and leaned sideways on Crescent Rose before throwing herself at the sewage pipe. Her foot slipped on the raw sewage and scrambled to grab the edge of the pipe, making her skin crawl as the muck poured between her fingers. Ruby fought back a shudder and steadily climbed back up until she was crouched safely in the pipe. She undid the rope around her waist and gave it a few tugs, signaling for the rest of her crew to follow her example.

Yang came down first, sliding along the rope like it was a fireman's pole and swinging herself into the pipe with total disregard for her safety. Blake was next to follow, though she was much slower and cautious about her approach, especially when she kept looking down at the great waves crashing below. And then there was Weiss, who was the slowest to ease down the rope partially because she was carrying her laptop, and partially because she was clearly hesitant to go mucking around in the sewers. But no matter how reluctant she was, Weiss swung over to the pipe and joined the rest of the Rose Gang crouching ankle deep in who-knows-what.

"This is the fourth disgusting thing I've ever done since joining you girls," Weiss grumbled disgustedly.

"Nothing's ever gonna top that New Jersey job," said Yang, grimacing. "Seriously, what is wrong with those people?"

"Okay, Weiss, we made it this far," said Blake, desperately trying not to look down. "Please find us a way out, and fast. It may stink for you guys, but it's five times worse for a Faunus nose."

"All right, we should be headed – oh, wait, my scanning algorithm is done," said Weiss as her laptop chimed loudly. "It'll just take me a second. Just have to check for any…. No…. no, no, no, no, NO!"

"Weiss, what's – " Ruby started to say when Weiss suddenly slammed her laptop shut, spun around on her heels, splashing sludge around, and threw her computer out of the pipe with all her might. In the distance, they could hear a faint  _crunch_ that was likely Weiss's laptop smashing into the rocks below. Ruby, Blake, and Yang stared openmouthed at the hacker as she wiped her forehead with a relieved sigh.

"Uh…not that I don't like watching you destroy your personal property…," said Yang slowly, "but what the hell was that?"

"Its Watts! He was hacking me!" Weiss shrieked frantically.

"Say what?" Ruby gasped.

"All those times my computer glitched out," Weiss spoke very quickly, shaking her hands like she was itching to grab something. "That was Watts breaking through my firewalls. He must have intercepted my laptop's wireless signal and implanted some kind of…Queen Virus that allowed him to slip into my software undetected. It would have been invisible if I hadn't used the scanning program I personally designed. He was trying to upload a tracking program onto my laptop, but I got rid of it before the download was complete."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Weiss," said Blake, grasping the hacker by her shoulders. "What does this mean for us?"

"Its means…," said Weiss, taking a deep breath. "It means that Watts knows we're here."

* * *

High above the small town, safely secure in his flying fortress, Dr. Arthur Watts took a delicate sip of his freshly brewed tea while observing the personalized laptop sitting open on the side table. The computer had been opened to a three-dimensional map of the island with a little white snowflake occasionally blinking somewhere around the edges. But when Watts checked the computer again, the snowflake had disappeared and a large red banner flashed across the screen saying " **CONNECTION LOST** ". Dr. Watts scoffed lightly.

"Clever little girl," he said. "So she finally noticed the virus I uploaded. I suppose I should have expected as much from the infamous 'Snowpea'. It was my mistake for underestimating them. And I don't make the same mistake twice."

Dr. Watts reached into his pocket, retrieving his personalized phone, tapped one of the names on his contact list, and waited. The disgraced scientist drummed his fingers on his knees impatiently by the fourth ring, grumbling over the unnecessarily long wait; he really needed to find more attentive henchmen. Finally, he heard the call click on the other side, and one of his minions answered.

"Yes, I need you to contact INTERPOL at once," said Dr. Watts coolly. "Tell them that Ruby Rose is on Gale Island."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Rose Gang has a network of friends and people who they've helped during their thieving career. Truthfully, I hadn't considered Matte Skye at first because they were such an obscure character even for RWBY, but they were the only one who would seem likely to drive a boat for the gang. Various other characters will appear as cameos as the story goes on, and even some will play big roles in the story itself.
> 
> This story will not be semi-linear like it was in the Thievius Raccoonus, but with a mission-based plotline like in Band of Thieves and Honor Among Thieves so that all the characters will have a chance to have central roles in the story rather than just Ruby doing everything herself.


	4. The Menace in the Machine - The Doctor is In

It had been a long night for the gang, between dodging the patrolling guards and finding a suitable base of operations to set up. By the time they had gotten themselves situated, the starry night sky had been replaced with transparent blue eyes with bits of sunlight shining through. But this was only inside the town; outside, one could hardly tell the difference with the ceaseless thunderclouds obscuring the whole island, churning the seas that surrounded them.

Perched on the rooftop above the wet, cobblestone streets of the small village, Ruby remained hidden in the shadows as she observed the seventh patrolling guard march agitatedly past. That was her third time seeing that exact same guard, both during the first round and the fourth – Ruby was starting to see a pattern in their route. Deciding she had seen enough for now, Ruby silently leapt towards the opposite rooftop and sprinted across the village toward the opposite end, her cape flapping in the wind behind her.

She stopped on the roof of what looked like an old English pub, but the building had long since been condemned; the windows had been completely boarded up and the doors were bolted from the inside – it was the perfect place to lay low. The Rose Thief pawed the roof until her fingers bumped into the hidden trapdoor, pried it open, and dropped inside, allowing the hatch to close with a  _snap_  behind her. Ruby unceremoniously landed sprawled over a pile of worn pillows and tattered blankets that the gang had been lucky to procure the previous night, then quickly rolled over and bounced back up to her feet. The red-hooded thief brushed herself off, coughing from the amount of dust that still lingered, and looked around at her team scattered throughout the base.

She could see Weiss hunched over at bar table, frustration apparent on her face as she fruitlessly tried to make her smartphone do  _anything_. Weiss was a computer genius who could work miracles with her laptop, but her phone didn't nearly have the amount of processing power she needed, especially when she couldn't risk wifi connectivity with Watts looming over them. Blake was sitting on the floor nearby unpacking their supply bag and doing a quick inventory check. The Faunus had always been left in charge of their tools since Ruby was too scatterbrained to remember everything, Yang more often than not broke a lot of the things they needed, and Weiss just outright refused. Blake was currently checking their weapons, which included Crescent Rose, Gambol Shroud, Weiss's rapier named Myrtenaster, and a pair of sawed-off shotguns Yang called Ember Celica. And speaking of whom, Ruby noticed, the muscle of their team was currently bench pressing three of the old wooden tabled stacked on top of each other with minimal effort. Ruby suspected that Yang was only doing it to impress Blake; a suspicion she confirmed when Yang flashed a flirtatious smile and Blake rolled her eyes playfully.

Ruby had just sat down on the stool when Weiss slapped her hands on the bar with a frustrated growl, making the red-hooded thief jump. Their computer operator spun around in her seat and groaned, "Ugh, this is pointless. My phone doesn't nearly have the power we need, and I can't get another laptop because Watts will just hack it again and we'll be right back where we started."

"What's the big deal, anyway?" asked Yang carelessly.

"The big deal is that Dr. Watts has this entire island loaded with cameras, electronic doors, wireless communication, and not to mention all those weird gadgets he's outfitted his men with," Weiss explained exasperatedly, rubbing her throbbing forehead. "Without a computer, I won't be able to hack into any of those things. And even if I did have one, Watt's will probably just pick up on it right away and bring his entire army down on top of us."

"Then why don't we steal it from him?" said Blake, drawing all eyes on her. "His controls, I mean. Watts is a computer genius, so he's obviously sending orders from a computer of his own. But if he was able to hack into Weiss's laptop, then he would have had to do it through the wireless connection. And that means he must have something that transmitting wireless signals throughout the island, right?"

"Yeah…yeah, you're right," Weiss said slowly. She turned around in her seat once more, swiping the scene on her smartphone. "If Watts  _is_ controlling everything from a computer, then he would need some kind of a router where he can forward all his data. And since it  _very_ unlikely that Watts would want anyone to see so much as his wallpaper, he's likely established his own private network that's connected to the whole island. The thing is, it would need to be set somewhere where it can send a large enough signal that it can reach everywhere at once, and there's only one place on the whole island where he could do it from…."

Weiss flipped around to Ruby practically shoved her smartphone in her leader's face. On the screen was one of the reconnaissance photo Ruby had taken of the area after they found their base. Ruby hadn't thought much about the building at first since it was just an abandoned coffee shop, but she couldn't help noticing the large radio tower perched on the roof and snapped a picture on a hunch. Looks like her hunch had panned out.

"Why would an old café have a radio tower unless it was being used for something?" said Weiss smugly. "Not to mention the store looks old while the tower itself seems brand new. Watts has to be hiding his router somewhere inside. I'll head on over and see if I can't piggyback onto it. If we're both sending the same signal, them we'll be practically invisible  _inside_ Watt's network – maybe we can even intercept his communications and keep track of his actions. The more we know what's going on, the better."

"You shouldn't go alone," said Ruby firmly. "Take Yang with you in case things get too hairy."

"Ironic choice of words, considering the mess we're working with," said Weiss, gesturing to the blonde with her chin.

"Aw, you're just jealous 'cause of my luscious mane," said Yang teasingly, running one hand through her giant mass of golden locks while still holding up the tables with the other.

"And what can Ruby and I do?" Blake asked before the white-and-yellow pair could get into another heated argument. "You can't expect us to just sit around and wait, can you?"

"No, I actually have another job, I want you both to do," said Weiss, swiping her phone again. "When one of the guards was passing by the hideout, I was able to overhear his conversation on the radio. Apparently, Dr. Watts is coming down from his airship and is on his way to greet some 'special guests'. Ten-to-one says that these 'special guests' might be another member of the Grimm. Since you both specialize in stealth and deception, I need you two to tail Watts and find out any information about him that might help benefit us in the final heist. And if you can find out who these guests are, that would help. Once we have a hack-proofed computer and a better understanding of operation, those pages of the Book of Thieves are as good as ours."

"Then what are we doing sitting around here?" Ruby said impatiently. "Let's move out!"

* * *

Ruby and Blake deftly leaped across the rooftops, flying over the heads of the patrolling guards without them being any the wiser; the Rose Thief used the tops of signs and lampposts to reach the opposite side while the Cat Faunus used her natural skills to bound over and land on all-fours. They were making their way toward the center of the village where the storm generating airship floated high above, casting a long shadow in the rays of the sun. Ruby, whose attention was focused on the airship and the possibility that it might contain the missing pages, let out a surprised yelp when Blake suddenly pulled her back by the cape and slapped her palm to keep the Rose Thief silent. A couple of the guards below looked around for the source of the noise, but gave up when they couldn't find anything.

Blake waited a few seconds to make sure the guards weren't paying attention before she removed her hand from Ruby's mouth. The Rose Thief let out a dramatic gasp, turned to the Faunus to say something, when Blake pressed a finger to her lips as a gesture of silence. She then pointed off to the side. Ruby crawled up to the ledge on her hands and knees and finally understood why Blake was acting so cautious.

They had found themselves on the edge of what used to be the town square, but now looked like it had been converted to a security camp. Fifteen-foot-high chain link fences topped with barbed wire surrounded blocked off the square from all sides, every side and corner guarded by stationary security equipped with bulletproof vests and heavy ordnance. Inside the fences, Ruby could make out several dozen similarly armed men patrolling in a pattern that she couldn't make out from her position. And to top it all off, there spotlights outfitted with automatic turrets that likely shot down anyone trying to get into the square from anywhere other than the main road. All in all, Ruby did not like her chances of trying to get in there.

"Holy cats, look at this!" Ruby hissed. "It's like that time we snuck into that Atlesian military base."

"Only Weiss can't give us the access codes so we can walk in," Blake mumbled, her eyes roaming the square. "Watts is very thorough about keeping this area guarded. There are men with a visual radius that can watch from all directions. The fence is just far enough from the rooftops that we would get caught in the barbed wiring if we tried to jump them. Automated turrets with searchlights so that we can't sneak around under the cover of night. And I'm willing to bet Watts was paranoid enough to equip them with motion detection. And even if we do make it inside the fence, there are a whole lot of guards with guns and no places to take cover. No matter how we do it, we're screwed if we try to get into Watt's ship through there."

"Can't you just disguise yourself as a guard and sneak us in," Ruby suggested.

"Ruby, take a look at them," said Blake with a blank expression, gesturing to the guards. "All of them are giant, muscular men with ridiculous amounts of facial hair – seriously, what is it with Englishmen and mustache's? No disguise will be able to fool them. And no – we are not doing Operation: Anchovy again," Blake cut Ruby off as she opened her mouth.

"Fine," Ruby grumbled. "But this is the only known way of getting into Watt's ship. How do we - ?"

"Hold that thought; look over there," Blake interjected.

The Cat Faunus gestured to the main gates as the fences were pulled aside and a group of five people marched out onto the main road. Ruby and Blake crouched low as they moved across the roof and peeked cautiously over the ledge down into the street. Right away, the first person Ruby sees is Dr. Arthur Watts with his thick mustache and his casual demeanor as he walks along the cobblestone with his hands folded behind his back as if he were taking a delightful stroll. It had been over a decade since Ruby had last laid eyes on him, but she could never forget the look of mirth as he stood over her mother's corpse, tearing apart the Book of Thieves in a fit of laughter.

Ruby was almost tempted to jump down and rip that dumb mustache off his face, which was why she was so fortunate enough to have Blake nearby to hold her down.

"Easy there, red," Blake said soothingly in Ruby's ear, holding her by the shoulders to keep her in place. "We'll get our chance. You just have to be patient."

"I know…," said Ruby, taking a deep, calming breath. "I know…gotta be patient…. Think things through before I go screwing everything up."

"Maybe not everything, but a good amount," said Blake teasingly. "The good thing is, we've spotted Watts. And even better, look at who he's with."

Ruby spared another look in Watts direction before she realized what Blake was getting at. The four soldiers who were guarding the disgraced scientists were normal sized compared to the brutish security wandering the town. All of them were wearing sleek, futuristic-looking armor made of some type of white alloy and carrying laser rifles as opposed to the live ammunition used by the regular guards. But the most important part was that armored guards wearing helmets with wide visors that covered their faces from view. Truth be told, they reminded Ruby of those robot soldiers in Atlas….

"Those must be Watt's personal bodyguards," said Blake, carefully watching the doctor pace down the street in the direction of the town entrance. "Of course he has to make sure that his men have the best equipment to keep himself safe. But that might be a good thing in this situation."

"They're all wearing helmets," Ruby added. "Even if you were standing right in front of them, I bet you wouldn't be able to see who was behind it. If we got one of those uniforms, we might be able tail Watts anywhere he goes.  _Aaaand_  I bet being on Watts's special forces can get you a lot of security clearance to places that normal guards aren't allowed to go. Just the kind of thing we need for the big heist."

"First we need to figure out how to get to one of them," Blake mutters to her partner as Watts turns the corner. "Any ideas."

Ruby hums to herself, rubbing her chin animatedly…and then a grin stretched across her lips.

* * *

Watts made an indignant noise as he checked the time on his personalized smartphone before pocketing it, his mustache twitching as they passed another pair of brutish henchmen. They were big and beefy, which was part of the reason why he hired them, but they were so easily distracted and constantly tripping over themselves to the point where it seemed like a cartoonish gag. Watts could have hired better men, certainly, but it was better to cut costs for the sake of his experiments; these buffoons were too stupid to realize that they were being underpaid, anyway.

Watts checked his phone again and scoffed.

"The nerve of them showing up so late in the day," said Dr. Watts irritably. "Don't they know I'm a busy man? If I am going to the trouble of inviting them, they should at least have the common courtesy to be punctual."

"Well, it's not exactly easy to get to the island," one of the guards said. "What with the storm you – "

"I hope you don't let your tongue slip in front of our guests, minion," Dr. Watts said sharply. "Otherwise, I may feel the need to cut it out of that empty skull of yours. Understand?"

"Y-yes, sir," the guard stuttered fearfully.

"Honestly, it's so hard to find good help these days," said Dr. Watts, shaking his head with an agitated sigh. "Someone be sure to inform Professor Taupe in Laboratory 6 that I might be running late this evening. God knows how long it will take to play tour guide with these – "

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off when they heard a loud crash coming from the alleyway on their left. Dr. Watts came to an immediate stop; his guards quickly formed up into a diamond pattern around the scientist with their arms trained on the alleyway. Watts's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he gestured to the bodyguard in front and to the left of him with his chin.

"You two check out that noise," Dr. Watts commanded. "And be thorough. Somehow, I get a feeling our little intruders might be up to something."

The two bodyguards nodded in acknowledgement and cautiously tread down the alley while the remaining two guards took up positions in front and behind the doctor. Dr. Watts observed the guards waving their laser rifles slowly around, waiting to pull the trigger at the first sign of movement (if they actually managed to hit something, he wasn't going to complain). After they had down a sweep of the lane, one of the guards gestured to something off to the side and both of them disappeared around the corner.

Watts and his remaining bodyguards stood waiting for one minute…then two minutes…and by the time five minutes had passed, Watts was starting to lose his patience and suspect that something wasn't right. The disgraced scientist started to reach inside his coat for something when the missing guards suddenly appeared around the corner again, jogging back to join the rest of them. The two guards with Watts visibly relaxed when seeing them, but the doctor kept his hand inside his coat with a distrustful look in his eyes.

"Nothing to report, sir," One of the guards declared. "All we could find were a couple of rubbish bins knocked over. We think it might have been a cat."

"Or it could have been a monkey," the second guard suggested.

"You idiot, why would it be a monkey?"

"Well, we're in the middle of an island, so it could've – "

"Quiet," Dr. Watts hissed, leering at them. "You two, take off your helmets." The two guards looked at each other, mounting confusion apparent, then looked back at the doctor. "That wasn't a request. Take them off.  _Now!_ "

Th guards hesitated at first, but nonetheless reaching for their helmets and pulled them off slowly. When the headgear finally came off, Watts stared into the faces of…a pair of very confused-looking Englishman. The disgraced scientist let out a relieved sigh, removing his hand from his coat.

"Just had to be sure," Dr. Watts explained to his befuddled guards. "These intruders have an operative skilled in the art of deception. Just wanted to make sure neither of you had been replaced why you were away. Now, come along," he said, checking his phone again. "Can't been later than we already are."

The guards replaced their helmets and stepped in line with the former scientist as they marched down the street…unaware of Ruby popping her head out of the alleyway on the opposite side. The Rose Thief grinned.

"The key to being a great thief is misdirection," Ruby said quietly, speaking over her shoulder. "Pretty clever, don't you think?"

Her response was a whole lot of muffled shouting and the sound of someone thrashing around on the ground. The girl in the red hood turned back around, looking down at the bound and gagged Englishman rolling around on the cobblestone in nothing but his underclothes. Ruby poked her head around the corner again and kept an eye on the armored guard stepping behind Dr. Watts, hoping he doesn't notice the few strands of black hair poking out from under the helmet.

Ruby was honestly relieved that her plan had worked. The Rose Thief had knocked over the trash can to draw the two guards around, and while everyone was watching that direction, Blake had snuck up on the guard standing behind Watts and pulled him into the shadows. It had been very risky considering they had done the deed only a few feet away from Watts and he could have turned around at any moment to catch them, so they we playing on the hope that he would be too focused on the disturbance to notice anything. It all paid off in the end and Blake had successfully infiltrated their ranks. Now all they needed to do was keep the good doctor was figuring them out.

After stuffing the poor Englishman into a trash can, Ruby climbed back up to the rooftops and continued to pursue the group from higher ground. As she crouched behind the low ledges of the roofs, Ruby stifled the urge to laugh out loud by the way Blake was awkwardly shuffling behind Watts. The armor had obviously been a little big on Blake given that the guard they stole it from had been slightly taller and obviously more built. Blake looked like she was doing something of a clumsy jig trying to keep her armored pants up, but, thankfully, Dr. Watts didn't seem to notice anything unusual as his attention was focused solely on his phone. They goodness they lived in a generation where everyone was completely unaware of the world around them, Ruby thought.

She followed them for close to ten minutes as they walked through the town at a leisurely pace, which Ruby thought was odd considering how Watts was complaining about punctuality earlier. Ruby spent the time bounding between rooftops, but there was a tense moment when one of the regular security guards caught a glimpse of her cape at the last second and she had to take shelter in the alleys until the guard thought they were imagining things. From there, she continued to pursue the party on foot by carefully ducking between streets and hiding behind large objects like boxes and street carts; she even used a brutish guard as cover when Watts glanced her way, which was a terrible experience as the guy smelled like he hadn't bathed in a week.

Ruby ducked around the corner when Watts's group finally made it to the town entrance, which was blocked off by a gigantic steel door ("Overcompensating much?" Ruby muttered sarcastically.) The gate was flanked by two brutish guards with two more perched on lookout towers on either side, and Ruby suspected there was at least two more on the other side. Now she understood why Weiss insisted on taking the sewer. One of the guards in the lookout tower turned when Watts approached the gate, making a couple of hand gestures that Ruby couldn't make out.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Watts impatiently. "Let them in already."

The lookout guard looked like he had been slapped in the face, quickly spinning around and gesturing to someone on the other side of the fence. A loud  _ **clang**_  sounded over the rumbling of the overhead clouds, the cringing noise of metal scraping against stone, and then the gate slowly parted sideways down the middle. Ruby jabbed her fingers into her ears to block out the irritating noise and leaned in closer for a better view of Watt's guests. She saw the outlines of two people standing on the other side, waiting until the gates were open wide enough for them to walk inside. The pair quickly paced inside, trying to escape the stormy weather behind them, and started shaking their clothes free of the excess water. When the guests finally stood up straight and presented themselves, Ruby's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Oh crap, not her," she said.

"Oh crap, not her," Blake hissed, mirroring Ruby's expression under the helmet.

"Oh crap, not her," Watts muttered disgustedly.

Winter Schnee's all too familiar scowl leered up at Watts, possibly having overheard his comment, mopping her face with a handkerchief she pulled out of her pocket. Somehow, Ruby didn't feel all too surprised that Winter had managed to follow them all the way out to an island in the middle of nowhere, regardless of the raging storm outside. Her companion, on the other hand, was someone that Ruby had never seen before. He didn't exactly look like a model police office by the way he was shaking his head like a wet dog or slapping the excess water out of his ears. More than that, it was a surprise that Winter even worked with anyone, especially someone who looked like they could be younger than Ruby herself. She needed to ask Weiss about him later.

Ruby looked back at Watts, who was whispering something to his bodyguards; Blake spared a brief glance in her direction and nodded, silently communicating that she would explain later.

"Welcome, welcome, my friends, to Gale Island," Dr. Watts greeted Winter and her partner jovially, arms waving exaggeratedly. "I am Dr. Arthur Watts, proud owner of this island. I hope the trip over wasn't too difficult."

"I'm pretty sure I lost a week's worth of lunch on the ship," Oscar groaned. Winter elbowed him sharply in the shoulder, gesturing the boy to stand up straight. "Ow! Was that necessary?"

"Dr. Watts, I am Inspector Winter Schnee," said Winter properly, her back straight and her shoulder squared. "And this is my partner, Oscar Pines."

"Partner?" Ruby whispered to herself. "Since when does Winter do partners?"

"We were sent by INTERPOL regarding a lead against an international thief, Ruby Rose," Winter continued. "According to our caller, she has been suspected to be somewhere on this island. Is that correct?"

"Yes, I was the one that called you," said Dr. Watts, turning on his heel and gesturing them to follow. "Let's walk and talk. I can explain everything while giving you a tour of the town."

The former scientist marched off down the street, brushing past Blake, who had paused for a moment to give the doctor a bit of space before joining the other bodyguards in following him. Winter and Oscar, both still soaking wet and without being offered a towel, shared a brief glance before they went along with the doctor. As they approached her alleyway, Ruby climbed a nearby gutter pipe and practically threw herself over the ledge, lying flat against the roof and praying that Winter hadn't noticed the quick flash of her red cape. It was one thing to tail Watts and his goons – they didn't know what to expect – but Winter Schnee was practically an expert on the Rose Gang and could sniff out even the slightest trace of suspicious activity. Ruby held her breath as they walked by and didn't release it until they were a good enough distance away.

"Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be Winter?" Ruby muttered softly. She flipped around on her stomach and slowly peeked over the ledge at the group's retreating backside. "This job just got a whole lot harder. I really hope she doesn't notice Blake…."

Speaking of whom, the feline Faunus was practically sweating a waterfall underneath her helmet. Winter "The Ice Queen" Schnee was only two feet in front of her and was searching the environment with that critical gaze that had undone a number of their operations in the past. Blake was starting to regret stealing this uniform. If she tried to make a break for it, not only would Watts know something was up, but Winter would slap the cuffs on her before she even took five steps. There had to be a way out of this. There had –

"Isn't it kinda weird how there's a huge storm outside this town, but not a single drop in it?" Oscar spoke up, nearly making Blake jump out of her skin.

"Hmm, you're right," Winter hummed thoughtfully as she stared up at the clear sky. "How do you explain that, Doctor?"

"Yes, well, I suppose the question is to be expected," Dr. Watts grumbled, looking like he was not fond of explaining the phenomenon. "Well, I am a scientist after all, and Gale Island is a naturally stormy place. I could bear to do my research with all that ruckus, so I decided to do something about it. See my airship high above the town?" He pointed to it. "The machine on board is what's keeping the storms away."

"More like causing it," Blake muttered under her breath. For a brief second, Winter looked over her shoulder back at Blake like she had heard her, making the cat Faunus tense up. Thankfully, she turned back around, seemingly not noticing anything.

"I see," said Winter coolly. "As interesting as that is, perhaps we should focus on the matter at hand. The Rose Gang. You believe they are on this island. Do you think they are looking for anything specific? Any reason why you think they would go through all the trouble of traveling through a hurricane and sneaking into town."

"Well, I am a very wealthy and powerful man, if owning an island is any proof," said Dr. Watts, chuckling at his own wit. "They could be after anything, really."

Winter frowned and shared a look with Oscar; neither of them were buying it. Winter knew that it was no coincidence that Ruby Rose would break into her office back in America to steal her own file and suddenly appear less than a week later within the general vicinity as one of the people suspected to be involvement in her mother's murder. She had already brought Oscar up to speed on all her research, so he could automatically tell that Watts was withholding information.

"Sooo…how did you figure out that Ruby Rose is here?" Oscar asked candidly. "Most people don't know they're around until they've already been robbed."

"Well, I am certainly not 'most people'," Dr. Watts sniffed condescendingly. "If you must know, I caught their little hacker trying to sneak their way into my personal data system. Now, a man of my brilliance easily caught on to their schemes right away, and attempted to return the favor by hacking back into  _their_ system. Unfortunately, they caught wind of it and promptly destroyed their computer before I could properly track it. A shame, really, but it just goes to show the difference in our level of skill and intellect."

" _ **Is that son of a bitch actually gloating? It wasn't even**_ **that** _ **good.**_ " An irritable voice growled in Ruby's ear.

" _Weiss!_ " Ruby hissed very loudly in surprise. She flattened herself against the roof when she thought Oscar might have heard her, tapping the communicator in her ear as she spoke quietly. "Weiss, what are you doing? I thought this line wasn't secure."

" _ **It is now**_ ," said Weiss; Ruby could practically hear her cocky grin. " _ **I've successfully integrated myself into Watts's network, and even found myself a new laptop in the process – talk about a win-win. Now we can communicate without interference and even poke around some places that the doctor wouldn't want us to. Of course, we ran into a little trouble along the way.**_ " At precisely that moment, Ruby heard a crash in the background and Weiss screamed, " _ **Will you stop throwing henchmen into the computer's Xiao-Long!**_ "

" _ **My bad!**_ " Ruby heard her sister distantly apologize.

"Speaking of sisters, do you know who's on the island right now?" said Ruby.

" _ **I can see her through the street cameras**_ ," said Weiss. " _ **This operation has become exceedingly more difficult…but we also may be able to turn this into an advantage against Watts if we play our cards right….**_ "

"So you're telling me you managed to reverse hack the Rose Gang's hacker?" said Winter with a hint of skepticism. "You know their hacker is the infamous Snowpea, correct? I'm sure a former military scientist like yourself must have heard of her."

"Only by reputation," said Dr. Watts, waving his hand dismissively. "A gray hat hacker responsible for leaking information into the general public that essentially destroyed dozens of major companies…including your father's company, if I am to assume that your last name has any relation to the Schnee Company." He looked over his shoulder with a calculative look, taking in Winter's impassive expression. "You must have some personal stake in wanting to see the Snowpea arrested for destroying your family's legacy, do you not?"

"It wasn't my legacy," said Winter in a strained voice as if she was trying to hold back her real feelings. "I never had any personal interest in running  _my father's_  empire. I joined the police force the moment I graduated and never looked back. I have no qualms with the Snowpea for exposing my father's crimes."

"Then perhaps you want to thank them before you slap the cuffs on," said Dr. Watts amusingly. "Now, how about I show you where you'll be staying. It's not exactly a five-star hotel, but I think it will do nicely."

"I think that's about enough info we're gonna get out of this recon," Ruby muttered, tapping her comms. "Weiss got her computer set up and we got a hold of a uniform from Watts's personal guard."

" _ **That'll make it easier to move around, at least**_ ," said Weiss.

" _ **We still have one problem**_ ," Blake's said over the comms. She was speaking in a very low voice, likely trying to keep Winter and Watts from overhearing. " _ **How am I going to get back to the hideout? I can't run off without these three knowing what's up. I'll be caught right away.**_ "

"We need some kind of distraction to get Watts to send his guards away," said Ruby.

" _ **I'm already on it**_ ," said Weiss smugly. Over their commlink, Ruby could hear the rapid tapping of keys along with Weiss's concentrated muttering. " _ **Accessing infostructure…searching for the most heavily guarded area…hmm, Laboratory 6 looks promising…. Rerouting system mainframe…activating alarms…aaaaand – voila!**_ "

Right away, a jarring alarm screeched across the town, making Ruby, Watts, Winter, Oscar, and the guards jump. The bodyguards swiveled around with their guns, not knowing where to shoot, while Winter pulled out her saber and Oscar withdrew what looked like a customized expandable baton from his belt. Dr. Watts, meanwhile, looked flustered as he grappled with his coat trying to whip out his phone; Ruby could actually see his mustache bristling as his finger swiped furiously across the screen.

"What's that alarm?" Winter questioned the doctor.

"It's…," Dr. Watts said hesitantly. "Security is reporting a break-in at Laboratory 6. How on Earth did they even find it…."

"It must be Ruby Rose," Oscar suggested. "We should go check it out."

"NO!" Dr. Watts shouted sharply. Oscar yelped and shuffled back a couple feet, taking by the doctor's sudden outburst. The doctor quickly composed himself and said, "I mean, no, you can't go in there. That's a private facility for authorized staff members only. Can't have either of you running amok in there – too much important work in there."

"All the more reason to suspect that the Rose Gang has there," said Winter, narrowing her eyes on the doctor suspiciously. "We were brought in to detain those thieves, so if you don't mind – "

"But I do mind," Dr. Watts all but growled at her. "Unless you have a warrant, you will not set a single foot anywhere that you don't belong. My personal guards will see to the matter." He directed his attention to the armored goons who were staring at the doctor cluelessly. "Well? What the bloody hell are you waiting for, an invitation? Go check it out before I fire the lot of you!"

The bodyguards scrambled frantically, a couple running into each other, before they ran down the length of the street, leaving Watts huffing irritably with Winter and Oscar, both of whom replaced their weapons with equally distrustful looks. Ruby observed the scene from above, letting out a relieved sigh as she watched Blake disappear around the corner with the other guards.

" _ **Nice work, Weiss,**_ " Blake chirped over the comms. " _ **I'll break off from the rest of these goons as soon as I'm in the clear.**_ "

"That's good, but did you notice the way Watts reacted when the alarm went off," said Ruby. "He looked really bent out of shape when he thought this…'laboratory 6' was being broken into. He wouldn't even let Winter check it out, even though he thought it would be us."

" _ **Watts is definitely hiding something in that lab,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **Something he doesn't want the police finding out about. We'll have to investigate later. Everyone should head back to the hideout so we can compare notes.**_ "

As the communicator clicked off and Ruby stood up from her hiding spot, she spared one last glance at the trio of Watts, Winter, and her new partner before she disappeared with a flick of her cape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While not as action-filled as the rest of the chapters, the reconnaissance mission is always a valuable quest for the future success as any job. With a little bit of information as well as a way to sneak into some of the more secure places in Watts's operation, the Rose Gang will have a better chance at recovering the pages of the Book of Thieves. But for those who are looking for a little more fight, you won't be disappointed when we see how the other half of the team fared in the next chapter.


	5. The Menace in the Machine – The Wrench

Getting across the small village was a lot more difficult for Weiss and Yang than it was for the red-and-black half of their team. For one thing, neither of them had their teammate's natural athleticism – Weiss hardly exercised anything except for her brain and Yang was unnaturally clumsy when it came to jumping rooftops, typically breaking everything under her foot and falling flat on the ground. So the white-and-yellow duo had resorted to sneaking through the streets and dark alleys around the patrolling minions. Weiss silently wished they had thought to do this mission at night instead of the middle of the day when the sun was shining its brightest past the storm generating airship overhead. And the fact they wore the brightest colors of the team didn't help in any way – seriously, Weiss needed to consider investing in darker clothing.

But with Yang's thieving skills and a whole lot of dumb luck, the pair silently crossed the village without much trouble. Though, there was one moment when Weiss accidentally kicked a trashcan, alerting a nearby patrolman who was walking their way to investigate. Yang had balled up her fist ready to punch the guard's lights out the moment he came around the corner, but luck was thankfully on their side when a stray cat just happened to scamper past. It raced out into the street as the guard watched it go, tilting his head curiously. Yang looked to still be considering whether or not to punch out the guard, but Weiss grabbed her bicep and shook her head quietly. The guard grunted and walked away a few seconds later, thinking nothing of it, and Weiss let out a relieved sigh.

"That was too close," Weiss muttered.

"I think you should have let me clock him," said Yang, pouting. "We would have had one less guard to deal with then."

"You'll get your chance to bash some skulls," Weiss assured her. "C'mon, the radio tower should be just down the street."

They circumvented the block through the back alleys where security was lowest to avoid another incident. They crouched low as they took cover behind a dumpster (which, unfortunately for Weiss, seemed to be loaded with what smelled like rotting fish and expired mayonnaise), peeking around the edge cautiously as their eyes fell on their target.

To many, it looked like an ordinary coffee shop that had been abandoned for a long time, which seemed to be a running theme with this town, Weiss mused. The visibly broken windows had been boarded up hastily that many of the planks were slanting slightly, the green-and-yellow awning had dozens of large holes like swiss cheese, the metal chairs and tables of the outdoor section were tipped over and rusted, and the logo on the front door was so faded that they couldn't make out the shop's name. But, of course, there were some things that stood out. Namely, the giant, glimmering radio tower planted on the café's roof, bright bulbs blinking rhythmically in active use, and the pair of brutish security thugs leaning on either side of the door, both looking extremely bored and carrying shotguns.

Weiss and Yang pulled back behind the dumpster; Weiss clamped her nose with her fingers to block out the smell.

"Yeah, that doesn't look suspicious as hell," Yang said sarcastically, gesturing to the guards. "It's totally normal to have guards packing heat in front of a shutdown coffee shop."

"At least we know we're in the right place," said Weiss nasally. "Next part is getting past the guards."

"I'll take care of it," said Yang, grinning madly as she whipped out her double sawed-off shotguns. "Ember and Celica need the exercise."

"Your delusion of referring to your guns as actual people aside," said Weiss with a blank star. "How about we do something that won't signal ever goon within a five-block radius."

"And what do you have in mind, genius?" Yang asked, stowing her guns begrudgingly.

Weiss tapped her chin, thinking for a moment, then into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone. The white-haired hacker tapped on several buttons and pulled up a lot of screens filled with numbers that Yang couldn't make heads or tails of.

"I thought you couldn't get a signal without Watts finding us," said Yang.

"I can't," Weiss admitted. "But I can still use the applications on my phone as long as I'm not connected to the local router. And as it just so happens, one of my applications is a short-range, wireless hacking program I developed with Aiden Pearce, one of my gray hat accomplices stationed in Chicago. If I do this right, I can remotely hack into the guard's cellphones and send them away." She held up her phone horizontally, the screen looking like it was in photo mode, but with two green squares blinking over the guard's pockets. "Just need to establish a connection…aaaaand…."

She tapped the screen and Yang's ears instantly caught the sound of two separate ringtones going off at the same time. The blonde brawler peeked around the dumpster as the guards whipped out their phones, staring at something that popped up in their screens. Yang didn't know what they were looking at, but one of the guards looked up at his partner and gestured to the side with his head. A moment later, both guards were heading down the street at a run.

"What'd you do?" Yang asked her partner curiously.

"I sent a message saying someone spotted the Rose Gang on the other side of town and need they backup," said Weiss with a proud smile as she pocketed her phone. "Now come on. It won't be long before they figure out the message is fake…. Or they won't, but I'd rather not take my chances."

They quickly crossed the street to the door. As to be expected, they found the door locked when they tried to pull it open. Seeing that there was no way of opening the door electronically, Weiss dropped down to one knee, pulled a couple of pins from her hair, and went to work on jiggering the keyhole.

"My lockpicking skills aren't really the best," she admitted. "But give me a couple of minutes, and I should be able to – " Her sentence was cut off when Yang suddenly slammed her boot into the door, flinging it open as the latch snapped, Weiss holding her pins up to nothing. "Or we could just do that."

"Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones," said Yang smugly.

"That philosophy suits you well," Weiss muttered under her breath.

The pair stepped inside and shut the door behind them, but it wouldn't shut all the way because Yang had broken the lock; Weiss only hoped that the guards were too stupid to notice anything.

The interior of the old café was uninterestingly normal. There was a counter on the far side of the room, a faded sign hanging crooked on the wall behind it, rotted wooden tables and chairs were toppled over, and, to Weiss's disgust, the walls were covered in a hideous quantity of mold; Weiss actually pulled out her personally embroidered handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth.

"Ugh, this is disgusting," Weiss grimaced.

"Then we better hurry up and find the way inside, Princess," said Yang nonchalantly.

They spread out and started looking over every inch of the abandoned coffee shop. Yang walked over to the counter, hopped over it, and looked underneath, expecting to find some sort of hidden lever or switch that would open a hidden door or something. Sadly, all she found was a pile of rotted fruit, a bunch of cups, and an old magazine for a Faunus edition of Playbunny; Yang looked to make sure Weiss wasn't looking before she pocketed it. The white-haired hacker, on the other hand, was making an effort to avoid touching everything. The sight of the mold and the rotten wood brought on the urge to vomit violently, and had to choke back the bile rising in her throat with great effort. But Weiss understood the urgency of their mission – and she really wanted to get back behind a computer where she belonged – so she started moving away the rotting furniture…using Myrtenaster to poke at them from a good distance away.

"Seriously, Weiss," said Yang, rolling her eyes as she bounded over the counter. "Stop being so prissy. We're never going to find the way inside the way you're doing it."

"Well, excuse me!" Weiss snapped. "I am not laying a finger on anything in this disgusting establishment! Just look at it – I mean, my god, I don't even know what half this stuff is!"

"You don't see me complaining," Yang remarked, holding up a mold-covered chain to emphasize her point.

"That's because you're an uncouth heathen!" said Weiss. "You grew up in the middle of the woods and slept on dirt.  _I_ , on the other hand, was raised like a normal human being."

"With a jewel-encrusted golden spoon in your mouth," Yang retorted savagely

"Listen here, you rude barbari – AAAAHHHHH!"

Yang spun around just in time to catch a flash of white hair before it vanished into the square hole that suddenly appeared in the floor. A thrill of panic ran down her spine; Yang practically smashed the moldy furniture out of her way and dropped to her knees at the edge of the hole, peering down inside of it. Unlike the rotting, wooden structure that surrounded them, the hole seemed to open up to a narrow tunnel made of polished steel with a series of rungs bolted to the wall leading down into the shadowy depths below. It appeared that Weiss had accidentally stepped over a trap door, and while Yang would normally have found this hilarious, she was more concerned about her partner's well-being.

"Weiss!" She shouted in a panic. "Weiss, are you okay?"

"…Yang, get down here, quick! I found it!" Weiss's voice carried from below.

Sighing in relief, Yang carefully lowered herself down into the hole, opting to use the ladder this time. She cautiously descended down the secret tunnel until her feet touched the linoleum floor at the bottom, turning around to a short hallway where she saw Weiss standing at the end with her back turned to her, apparently distracted by something in the next room. The blonde brawler crossed the corridor and walked up to her partner's shoulder, tilting her head back as she looked around the room with an impressed whistle.

The chamber was roughly as big as the coffee house upstairs, but was drastically cleaner and unnecessarily bright with its sterile white walls. It reminded Yang of the hospital room she stayed at as a child when she came down with the flu and Raven demanded the cowering doctor to cure her at knifepoint. The wall opposite of them was completely concealed by what must have been over fifty television screens, each one displaying crystal clear images of various parts of the town and the guards patrolling through the streets. They must be the town's security cameras, Yang thought. Below the wall of monitors was a console that stretched from one wall to the other decorated with hundred of bright and flashy buttons and a comfortable-looking leather chair resting next to it, currently empty.

Weiss made a sniffling noise and Yang looked at her with a raised brow as she wiped and imaginary tear from her eye.

"It's…beautiful…," said Weiss dreamily.

"Nerd," Yang muttered.

"A little appreciation wouldn't kill you," said Weiss, leering at her partner. "After all, how many times has that disgusting mop of hair you call a head been pulled out of the proverbial fire because this 'nerd' was intelligent enough to provide an adequate solution to the problem – "

"Yeah, yeah, skip the speech already," Yang waved her off; Weiss puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily. Yang gestured to the wall of screens and asked, "What's up with all the cameras. I thought this place was just supposed to have that router thing you were talking about."

"Obviously this is the brain of Watts's entire network," said Weiss, pivoting on her heel and walking up to the control console. "The wireless router, the communications array, the security system – he literally put all his eggs into one basket. Not exactly the smartest move on his part, but it works out better for us." She pulled out the chair and seated herself. "I had only made plans to hack his wireless network, but with this, I'll be able to monitor his entire operation without his notice. If only I hadn't thrown away my laptop…."

"You mean like this one?" said Yang, pointing to something on the far end of the console.

Weiss rolled the chair over to Yang and suddenly felt a newfound appreciation for her teammate. The blonde brute had found a laptop inserted into a specially designed slot on the console, which likely connected the computer to the security system. And it looked much more advanced than the simple computer that they had stolen from a Radio Hut and Weiss had to constantly modify to keep up with the ever-evolving electronic world; and it was ridiculously compact that Weiss could fit it in her purse. The only thing she could critique about it was drab brownish color scheme and the exaggerated cursive "W" splashed across the cover.

"Well, Watts clearly get a doctorate in good tastes," said Weiss," but that's something that can be settled for later. Now let's have a look see…." She flipped open the laptop, which immediately flickered on, and Weiss tapped a few keys while humming thoughtfully. "Well, good news and bad news. The good news is that I think I can access Watts's mainframe and download all the codes to the security around town, all of which we can take with us back to the hideout."

"And the bad news?" asked Yang.

"Watts is a genius and for good reason," said Weiss, frowning, as a blue screen popped up and she started inputting what seemed like random digits at hyperspeed. "His firewalls and anti-hacking programming are unlike anything I've ever seen before. Not even the computers in the Atlas military have these kinds of defensive barriers. Normal hacking techniques would be useless against this thing."

"But the great Snowpea is anything but normal, right?" said Yang, smirking.

"Naturally," said Weiss haughtily, tapping away with renewed determination. "Watts has issued a challenge and I am never one to back down. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be able to tell you his shoe size."

"Why would I want to know his shoe size?" asked Yang with a raised brow.

"I wasn't being literal, I was just being – ugh, you know what, forget it," Weiss groaned, shaking her head exasperatedly. "I'm going to need at least ten minutes before I can get in. Watch the entrance in case those guards decide to show up."

"Hey, what're you doing in here?!"

"And speak of the devil," Yang muttered sarcastically before she and Weiss spun around towards the door.

The two men that had been guarding the coffee house had returned, flanked by eight astonishingly similar-looking guards, making a total of ten burly men having to squeeze themselves through the narrow tunnel; all of them were carrying their shotguns, Yang noted.

"See, I told you there was something weird about that alert we got!" one of the guards declared.

"No, you didn't," his partner dismissed. "You kept going on about how they make curly fries curly."

"It's just not natural!"

"Wow, they picked up on our trail fast," Yang complimented.

"It probably didn't help that you pretty much wrecked the door when we came in," said Weiss, giving her partner a pointed glare. "They likely saw that the latch was broke and called in reinforcement. Ugh, I knew I should have gone solo for the mission."

"Relax, princess," said Yang dismissively. "I can handle these losers – you just get the…thing that we need."

Weiss rolled her eyes, sorely tempted to remind her teammates why they had gone to all this trouble, but thought better of it and turned back around in her seat. Yang, meanwhile, ran her hand through her long mane of golden hair, flashing the guards with a seductive gaze, then crossed the room toward them, purposely swaying her hips for added effect. The guards seemed befuddled, glancing at one another as if expecting the other to answer some unasked question. Yang stepped up to the guard leading the pack, smiling in a mysterious way, tracing a single digit down his chest –

"Uh, can I help you with something?" the guard questioned bluntly.

You could practically hear the record screeching in the background. Yang blinked and looked up at the guard, who was giving her an unusual expression like he thought blonde brawler was some foreign creature; she had never seen anyone look at her that way before. Coughing awkwardly, Yang pressed on, regaining her seductive gaze and pearly smile.

"Aw, we are  _so, so sorry_ ," Yang practically purred; a trick she perfected on Blake (until she ruined it with a cat pun). "We didn't mean to break into your super-secret hidey hole; we're just a couple of curious kittens."

"You kicked in the door, broke into private property, and now your friend is hacking our boss's stuff," the leading guard recounted. He lifted the barrel of the shotgun squarely at Yang's face, who amazingly did not flinch or back away. "That goes way beyond curiously. You're stealing."

"All right, all right, you caught us," said Yang, raising her hands in mock surrender. "We've been  _very_ bad girls. But we've learned our lesson." She gave him a flirty wink, folding her arms under her breasts, intentionally raising them. "Come on, let's kiss and make up."

It was the oldest trick in Yang's arsenal – use her sex appeal to lower the enemy's defenses, draw them in, and then send them flying across the room with a killer right hook to the face. She had been using this trick ever since she was fifteen when she trashed Hei "Junior" Xiong's club as a distraction while her fellow tribesmen looted their safe without notice; Raven had never been prouder of her daughter. But as Yang puckered her lips for the pretend kiss that would lure him in, the guard stunned her with a hand to the face instead. Dumbstruck, Yang looked up at the guard, who was giving her a disgusted look – wow, no one had ever looked at her like  _that_ before.

"Do we look like a bunch of American trash who are so easily distracted by winks and big bosoms?" the guard snorted contemptuously. "We're proud Englishmen. We only prefer the finer things in life, and that includes our women."

"Although, your friend is rather appealing," one of the other guards said, gesturing to Weiss. "Now there's a real woman. Just the right amount of sass and class."

He other guards nodded and mumbled in agreement, some of them even looking at the white-haired hacker with half-lidded eyes and wistful sighs. Weiss, who could hear everything, smirking with a sense of victory as she redoubled her efforts on the laptop. Yang looked like she had been slapped in the face with a trout, jaw dropped and eyes wide as she looked between her partner and the guards who were admiring her. Yang slapped herself in the face to wake herself up, sputtering.

"W-w-wait, wait, wait, wait!" she yelped hysterically. "You're telling me…you think  _she_ " she gestured to Weiss "is more attractive than me?" she pointed to herself.

"Oh, without a doubt," said the leading guard automatically; his friends murmured and nodded their heads in agreement.

"HA!" Weiss shouted over her shoulder triumphantly.

Yang paused for a moment, taking a deep breath through her nose, letting it out through her mouth, turning back to the guards with an apathetic stare.

"All right…," said Yang, cracking her knuckles in a threatening manner, "now I'm going to hit you twice as hard."

At that last comment, the guards quickly took aim with their shotguns, but Yang had already made the first move. She lunged for the leading guard, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, then pulled him around in a tight circle before tossing him flat into another guard. She noticed another pointing his rifle at her head, knocked the barrel away with a backhanded slap, then flipped forward and delivered a powerful dropkick on his head. Yang immediately launched herself at the next guard, sending him flying across the room with a devastating punch to the gun, then moved into a spinning heel kick at the next guard's jaw, tossing him to the floor. She back fisted a guard coming up on her rear, disorienting him, shot a quick jab to the guard in front of her, then proceeded to kick them both to the ground.

As he made her way through the guards, the ones she had already knocked down were starting to get back up, dazed and bruised but otherwise still in fighting shape. Good, Yang thought, she wasn't done pounding on their tasteless losers.

But as she repeatedly slammed her fists into one of the guard's chest, she didn't notice one of them coming up behind her with their shotgun until she heard the rifle cock. Yang spun around on her heel, eyes wide as she stared down the barrel of the shotgun only a foot away from her face, the guard's finger tugging around the trigger in slow motion. Her heart pounding erratically against her ribcage, adrenaline pumping wildly in her veins, Yang didn't even realize she had whipped out one of her sawed-off shotguns until she pulled the trigger at the guard's face at pointblank range.

A stunned silence filled the chamber; the guards looked thunderstruck as one of their own hit the floor, going limp. It was a truly stunning to witness one of the thieves who considered themselves heroic to commit such a heinous act. But there she was, standing over the body of the guard splattered in patches of red…and orange…and yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet? Everyone's horrorstruck expressions turned to befuddlement. They looked around at yang, who had pulled out of the shotgun shells from her weapon, rattling the contents inside.

"Paint gun pellets," said Yang matter-of-factly, replacing the shell inside her gun. "I'm not a monster."

The guards let out simultaneous sighs of relief…and then charged at Yang with renewed vigor.

As this was all going on, Weiss was humming Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor under her breath to drown out the noise of Yang wailing on the poor, hopeless guards who thought they stood a chance. She had been making a decent amount of progress in hacking into Watts's computer, but the processor was taking an unrealistically long time for something that was supposed to be a state-of-the-art piece of technology. It was almost like the mission plot of a video game. Having one of the guards slump disoriented on the console next to her did only distracted her further.

"Do you mind?" said Weiss, before punching him in the jaw and knocking him out. "A little peace and quiet isn't too much to ask for."

Back in the fight, Yang shoots one of the guards in the chest, throwing him back, while kicking another that was coming up behind her, before spinning around and launching him into the air with an uppercut. She quickly ducks underneath another guard's shotgun before dropping him to the ground with a sweeping kick. The blonde brawler immediately jumps to her feet, running up to another approaching guard, then uses him as a springboard to launch herself at another guard on the side, knocking him out with a solid right hook to the face. The guard she kicked off of aimed his shotgun at the back of Yang's head, but Yang sharply turned and took a shot at his knee, dropping him into a kneeling stance, before stomped the bootheel in his face, effectively knocking him out.

Yang looked over her shoulder and spotted two guards coming her way, both having discarded their rifles when they realized how futile it was. Big mistake, Yang thought smugly.

The blonde martial artist crossed the chamber and shouldered one of the guards in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, then knocked him out with a spinning kick to the head. She then turned to his partner, who came swing at her with brass knuckles, but Yang effortlessly knocked the hit with her forearm while she pressed the barrel of her shotgun under the guard's chin. The force of the blast lifted the burly guard off the ground, which opened up an opportunity for Yang to slam her elbow into his stomach, followed immediately by a sharp kick that sent him flailing to the wall on the other side of the room.

One of the few guards left standing charged at her directly swing his shotgun around like a blunt instrument. Yang rolled her eyes amusingly. She knocked away his shotgun with her own weapon, pulled out its twin from its holster, and unloaded half-a-dozen shots on the guard's chest, painting him in every color of the rainbow. Yang didn't wait to see if the guard was able to stand or not before she lifted him into the air with an uppercut followed shortly by a strong punch to the abdomen that threw the guard to the wall.

Meanwhile, made a delightful humming noise as she tapped a few more keystrokes on the laptop.

"Just a few more digits aaaaand – we're in!" Weiss declared, tapping the last key with a flourish. The screen popped open to several windows at once, displaying several documents and schematics that were too complicated for an average person to understand. Grinning, Weiss shouted over her shoulder, "Yang, I got access to the network!"

"Cool!" Yang replied as she causally kneed a guard in the groin before shooting him in the face. "That means don't have to worry about Dr. Frankenstein spying on us, right?"

"How do you even compared the two – you know what? Never mind," Weiss shook her head. "It's much more than that. We can intercept Watts's calls, access his personal files, even use his own security network to or advantage. Speaking of which…,"

As Weiss's eyes roamed the television screens above, they fell on a certain camera that had a view of Dr. Watts walking down the street with his armored guards, speaking with, to Weiss's surprise, Winter and some boy she didn't know. And in the topmost corner of the screen, barely out of the camera's range of vision, Weiss spotted a flash of red running along the rooftops.

"I've got eyes on Ruby!" Weiss announced. "She's following closely behind Watts. And guess who's joining the party – my sister."

"Officer Ice Queen?" Yang said in disbelief, briefly pausing from punch one of the guards in the face. "She's here, too. That's just perfect."

"I'll try to establish contact with Ruby," said Weiss, tapping furiously along the keyboard. "Intercepting transmission frequency…establishing connection…inputting security code…checking audio…and…that should do it."

After inputting the last keystroke, the laptop came to life with a lot of noise that sounded like rustling clothing and heavy footfalls on concrete – this was no doubt Ruby running across the rooftops trying to keep pace with Watts and Winter. Weiss briefed a glance up at the security feed watching her sister along with the mad doctor, but Ruby was keeping out of sight, only betraying brief glimpses of red in the corners. She knew Ruby was too good to get caught; she had been the one to map the cameras in town in the first place. Over the laptop speakers, she heard Ruby's footsteps come to a grinding halt and paused in silence. Because of the quiet, the audio was able to pick up audio of a few people talking, though they sounded far away and made it difficult to hear:

" _ **Sooo…how did you figure out that Ruby Rose is here?**_ " one voice, likely the young boy with Winter, asked candidly. " _ **Most people don't know they're around until they've already been robbed.**_ "

" _ **Well, I am certainly not 'most people'**_ ," an older voice, likely Dr. Watts, sniffed condescendingly. " _ **If you must know, I caught their little hacker trying to sneak their way into my personal data system. Now, a man of my brilliance easily caught on to their schemes right away, and attempted to return the favor by hacking back into their system. Unfortunately, they caught wind of it and promptly destroyed their computer before I could properly track it. A shame, really, but it just goes to show the difference in our level of skill and intellect.**_ "

"Is that son of a bitch actually gloating? It wasn't even that good." Weiss growled irritably.

Weiss was nearly thrown out of her chair when Ruby suddenly screamed over the speakers. For a moment, she thought the Rose Thief might have been attacked and tried searching for her on the security monitors. But when she didn't see anything out of the ordinary and went back to her laptop, she realized her mistake – she had unknowingly turned the microphone on.

" **Weiss?** " Ruby hissed very loudly in surprise. " _ **Weiss, what are you doing? I thought this line wasn't secure**_."

"It is now," Weiss said smugly. "I've successfully integrated myself into Watts's network, and even found myself a new laptop in the process – talk about a win-win. Now we can communicate without interference and even poke around some places that the doctor wouldn't want us to. Of course, we ran into a little trouble along the way."

The moment the words left her lips, a guard smashed into the panel next to her, resulting in a frightened screech from the white-haired hacker. Weiss spun around in her chair and glowered at Yang, who has clutching a guard's crotch in an iron grip; the guard was squeaking in a high-pitched voice, begging for mercy.

"Will you stop throwing henchmen into the computer, Xiao-Long!" Weiss snapped.

"My bad!" Yang apologized, then punched out the guard.

" _ **Speaking of sisters, do you know who's on the island right now?**_ " said Ruby.

"I can see her through the street cameras," said Weiss, looking up at one of the security monitors focused on Winter and Watts. "This operation has become exceedingly more difficult…but we also may be able to turn this into an advantage against Watts if we play our cards right…."

The White Rose pair paused in their own talk when Winter struck up conversation, specifically about Weiss. The white-haired hacker felt a sense of pride as she recounted the many accomplishments that brought down several corrupt organizations as the legendary Snowpea in her head. Embezzling, false claims, inside trading, violation of environmental laws, corporate fraud, antitrust violations, and bribery were all crimes that she had exposed back in the day. But her crowning achievement was without a doubt the downfall of the Schnee company when she revealed that the CEO was committing a large number of labor and safety violations against Faunus workers. The outcry had been too great for the German government to ignore and the Schnee Company had gone bankrupt in a handful of weeks, despite her father's best attempts to sweep the whole thing under the rug.

And based on the way Winter responded to Watts over the radio, it didn't sound she was too upset about it in the least, much to Weiss's silent jubilation.

" _ **I think that's about enough info we're gonna get out of this recon**_ ," Ruby muttered over comms. " _ **Weiss got her computer set up and we got a hold of a uniform from Watts's personal guard.**_ "

"That'll make it easier to move around, at least," said Weiss.

" _ **We still have one problem**_ ," Blake suddenly joined the conversation, speaking in a low, soft tone. " _ **How am I going to get back to the hideout? I can't run off without these three knowing what's up. I'll be caught right away**_."

" _ **We need some kind of distraction to get Watts to send his guards away,**_ " said Ruby.

"I'm already on it," said Weiss smugly. She was practically leaning over the keyboard, fingers flying furiously, muttering to herself out loud. "Accessing infostructure…searching for the most heavily guarded area…hmm, Laboratory 6 looks promising…. Rerouting system mainframe…activating alarms…aaaaand – voila!"

Yang had finished knocking out the last of the guards with a flying kick to the face when a shrill alarm screeched around the room; she jumped with a frightened yelp, accidentally discharging a couple of shots from her guns that nearly took out Weiss's head. The television monitors were flashing glowing red " **WARNING!** " signs across their screens. Yang rushed over to Weiss's side, who was calmly staring up at the monitors as she watched the heated exchange between Winter and Watts; the latter was intensely trying to keep the former from following the sound of the alarm.

"Who – where – how - what happened?" Yang asked in a rapid-fire voice.

"Relax, I just set off a false alarm to give Blake an escape route," said Weiss, tilting her head up at the screen. Watts had just gestured his personal guard to leave and watched them disappear from the camera's range of vision, Blake unknowingly among them. Weiss went back to the computer, tapping away quickly. "Just let me make a few more downloads to make sure Watts can't backtrack us and then we can leave."

" _ **Nice work, Weiss**_ ," Blake chirped over the comms. " _ **I'll break off from the rest of these goons as soon as I'm in the clear**_."

" _ **That's good, but did you notice the way Watts reacted when the alarm went off**_ ," said Ruby. " _ **He looked really bent out of shape when he thought this…'laboratory 6' was being broken into. He wouldn't even let Winter check it out, even though he thought it would be us.**_ "

"Watts is definitely hiding something in that lab," said Weiss. "Something he doesn't want the police finding out about. We'll have to investigate later. Everyone should head back to the hideout so we can compare notes."

Ruby and Blake's communicators clicked off and both were likely heading back to the hideout at this moment. After a few more minutes of type, Weiss finally stood up, closed the laptop, and stowed it away in her messenger bag.

"We're all set," Weiss told Yang. "Let's head back to the others…. We should probably barricade the door on the way out, just to make sure that one of the guards gets the chance to warn Watts about what we did here," she quickly suggested, looking around at the tangle of unconscious guards that Yang had thoroughly beaten. "And take their phones, while we're at it."

"Don't you think someone is going to come check up on their eventually?" asked Yang, thought nonetheless following orders and retrieve the guard's phones from their pockets.

"I have a few ideas spinning around in my head," Weiss informed her. "If we do this right, we'll have the Watts pages of the Book of Thieves before midnight."

Yang didn't ask what her teammate what her ideas were – she had long since learned to trust Weiss's plans. So, after removing all of their phones and anything that could help them make contact with the other guards, Weiss and Yang climbed back up the ladder, closed the trapdoor, which blended perfect with the rest of the withered floorboards, and pushed several rotten tables and chairs on top to bar it off. The white-and-yellow pair poked their heads cautiously out the door, looking up and down the street, and then dashed quickly into the shadows of the alleyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those wondering, yes, I did mention Aiden Pearce from Watchdogs as a friend of Weiss's – it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Who knows, maybe someday, I might actually give him a cameo appearance with Weiss in the future.


	6. The Menace in the Machine – Rooftop Rendezvous

It was starting to turn dusk when Ruby and Blake made it back to the roof of their hideout in the boarded-up pub. The clear blue skies were subtly shifting into shades of orange and red above Dr. Watts's airship, though you could hardly tell the difference from anywhere else on the island due to the ever-present storm clouds with their howling winds and crackling thunder blocking the view. Hopefully, Ruby thought as she opened up the trap door to let Blake jump though, they would be able to fix the mess once they had taken down Watts. With that little happy thought in mind, Ruby downed down, closing the hatch behind her, and landed safely on the pile of pillows and blankets that had been laid out.

As she untangled herself from the sheets, Ruby found that Weiss and Yang had already beat them back. The hacker of the team was fiddling away at the bar table with her new laptop, which it looked like had been given a fresh coat of white paint and her signature snowflake on the cover. She was surrounded by a bunch of cracked television sets that Ruby knew hadn't been there when she left a few hours ago; Weiss must have stopped somewhere and convinced Yang to bring them all back. And speaking of whom, Yang was down on the dusty floor doing one-handed push-ups, and judging by the sweat glistening on her brow, she had been doing it for a while. Yang usually liked to exercise whenever she was bored or frustrated – Ruby suspected it might have been a little bit of both. Blake had taken a seat at one of the booth tables and was looking over her new guard uniform, inspecting it from every angle so that she could cover any potential slip-up in later missions. And Ruby, having nothing better do, thought she might as well go over and bother Weiss since the other two were never any fun.

The redheaded thief walked around the hacker, peeking over her shoulder curiously. To Ruby, the long paragraphs of random number and letters looked like gibberish to her, but Weiss somehow made sense of it. The Rose Thief frowned, crossed her arms in huff, and turned her head sideways as if it would make things any clearer. Weiss could practically  _feel_  Ruby hover over her shoulder, and, with an irritable expression, glared back at the team leader. Ruby raised her arm in surrender and slowly backed away. Now with her air space clear, Weiss went back to work on her laptop.

"Just once more sequence of numbers…and…DONE!" Weiss shouted victoriously with an over-exaggerated flourishing keystroke.

The old television sets sitting on the counter flickered to life with a loud static noise that made Ruby and Blake, whose ears were more sensitive than everyone else, clap their hands over their ears and wince. Thankfully, the noise died out in a couple of seconds when new images popped up on the screens. Some of the screens were still a little fuzzy and difficult to make out because of the spider web of cracks, but as Ruby leaned in close to one of the sets, she immediately recognized the images.

"Did you hack into the street security cameras?" asked Ruby impressively.

"Of course, what do you take me for?" said Weiss smugly, flipping her ponytail pretentiously. "I have eyes all over Gale Island, including the encampment in the plaza and several other secure locations. And the best part is, since we're riding along the same frequency, Watts doesn't have a clue that we're using his own security system against him."

"Weiss, you are amazing," Ruby complimented; Weiss's smile grew even wider. "So you can hack in to almost everything in town now?"

"Almost everything," said Weiss, frowning slightly as she tapped away at her laptop. "There are some stipulations. Namely this – " she tapped a key and displayed a set of blueprints. "Laboratory 6. Setting off the alarms to the building was easy enough, but the rest of the facility is completely off the network. It must run on its own system completely off the grid – it's effectively hacker proof unless I can establish a direct connection. Watts has to have something there that he doesn't want anyone finding out."

"Like something that could give Winter a reason to slap the cuffs on him?" said Ruby.

"Almost guaranteed," Weiss answered.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Ruby expectantly.

"Gather around, children, it's time to start planning a heist!" Weiss called to the rest of the team.

Yang, who had completed her five hundredth push-up, stopped, jumped up to her feet, grabbed a sweat towel that was hanging off the back of a chair, and walked over to stand next to Ruby. Blake, who had been searching the pockets of the guard uniform for any useful tools, immediately dropped the suit and joined the rest of the team on Ruby's opposite side. Weiss tapped furiously on her keyboard, bringing up a dozen pictures that essentially formed a slideshow.

"Our recon missions were successful in reestablishing a link into Watts's network and will make the upcoming heist a whole lot easier," she explained. "Unfortunately, it also revealed a number of new problems blocking us from the pages of the Book of Thieves." She brought up a picture of the town square. "The encampment around the airship's elevator," an image of a wander guard, "increased patrols, "and then an image of Watts walking with Winter and Oscar, "and probably the biggest issue: my sister and her new partner, Oscar Pines."

"What do we know about this new guy?" asked Yang, crossing her arms and tilting her head with a critical stare.

"Not much," said Weiss, bringing up a profile picture of Oscar. "He's pretty new to INTERPOL and there doesn't seem to be any record of past jobs or work experience. Hell, I don't think he even went through any formal training. But for some reason, he was personally recommended to Secretary-General Goodwitch by an unnamed source. He's unknown variable we have little information on. It could prove to be an issue in the future."

"I think he's kinda cute," said Ruby playfully.

"…what?" Weiss said slowly, staring at Ruby unblinkingly out of the corner of her eye.

"You know, in a farm boy kinda way," Ruby giggled, shrugging her shoulders innocently.

"…moving on," Weiss continued in a strained voice. "To summarize, a direct assault on Watts's airship is impossible."

"But you already have a plan to get around that, don't you?" said Yang confidently.

"More like a hope," said Weiss, bringing up the blueprint on Laboratory 6 again. "Dr. Watts most likely keeps all of his top-secret experiments here, in Laboratory 6. There might be something we could use there that'll allow us to reach Watts's airship without having to go through the encampment. Blake will go undercover in her new disguise posing as one of Watts's personal guard. With any luck, the guards working the lab will let you through without too much trouble."

"I did find a Level 4 security pass in one of the pockets," said Blake, holding up the laminated tag.

"Perfect," said Weiss optimistically. "Once you're inside, you'll need to locate the central terminal and insert my flash drive so that I can sync up with my laptop. I'm not sure if Watts's personal guard has access to the more secure areas of the lab, so you'll likely have to pick the pockets of some of the scientists. While you're there, keep an eye out for anything that we could use for the heist, or that could implicate Watts's enough to have him arrested."

"Simple enough," said Blake, nodding.

"Ruby, we're going to need your expertise to deactivate the external alarm horns around town," said Weiss, bringing up a picture of one as an example. "If Blake is successful in finding something that can get us up to the airship, we don't want to run the risk of alerting the whole town. Break open the panels and turn off the alarms using the manual override inside – don't worry, I'll be giving you instructions over the comms."

"Phew," Ruby muttered in relief.

"And Yang, I know how much you like beating people up, so I got you a fun job," said Weiss, bringing up a picture of another pub in town called The Salty Dog. "We want to reduce the number of patrolmen around town before we pull off the heist later this afternoon. Based on the ridiculous amount of text messages I managed to hack off the nearby guards, the majority of the night patrolmen like to hang around drinking at the Salty Dog before they have to start their shift. Yang, your job is simple: walk into the Salty Dog, kick their asses, and then stow them away somewhere no one will find them. According to my estimates, that'll reduce the number of guards around town by seventy-eight percent when night falls. That'll give us plenty of room to work around."

"I  _love_  this plan," said Yang eagerly, cracking her knuckles.

"Once all this is done," Weiss continued, "all that'll be left is to sneak on-board Watts's ship, steal back the pages of the Book of Thieves, and then get the hell out of here."

* * *

A patrolling guard snorted like a wild boar and grumbled profanities under his breath as he was forced to lug the heavy tool box under his arm. Ever since that false alarm went off in the doctor's super top-secret lab that hardly anyone was allowed into,  _he_ had been picked out of a hundred guards to do a thorough check of all the alarm horns in town. The patrolman didn't even know why Watts's had chosen him – he didn't know the first thing about electrical work; then again, the other guards seemed just as likely to electrocute themselves as much as they would shoot themselves in the foot. He thought the doctor was just being paranoid, but he didn't want to test his luck and make the boss angry – he heard the rumors about what he gets up to in that lab of his.

The guard double-checked the map of the town that Watts had given him and stopped in an alleyway between a rundown pharmacy and what used to be a butcher's shop. He shined the beam of his flashlight down the dark lane, pinpointing the large electrical box on the wall of the pharmacy. Unlike the buildings on either side, the box looked relatively new – something that Watts had added recently when he staked his claim on the island. The guard groaned as he set his toolbox down, pulled out a set of keys from his coat pocket, and opened the fuse box.

"Stupid scrawny mustache guy," the guard mumbled irritably, running his fingers over each wire looking for cuts or frays. "Making me come out here in the dark all by myself, doing a stupid system check. I'll bet a month's wage that it was one of the dumbasses in sector 6 that tripped the alarm and were too gutless to be upfront about it. Now I'm stuck here instead of having a pint down at the Salty Dog. Lousy, good-for-nothings…."

"Man, that really sucks," said Ruby, who was sitting cross-legged on garbage bin next to him. "Don't you just hate it when someone else causes trouble and you have to be the one to clean up after them?"

"Yeah, and worst of all, it happens, like, all the time," the guard complained, looking sympathetically at Ruby. "You would think they would learn after the first time, but noooo. Those dumbasses are always pulling the same crap and I'm the one left holding the bag."

"I feel you, my good man," said Ruby, crossing her arms and nodding in a very sage-like fashion. "I can't tell you how many times I've had to smooth things over with Junior every time Yang winds up getting drunk at his night club. Last time it happens, she ripped the disco ball from the ceiling, broke almost every window in the club, and punched Junior in the balls. I tell you, if it wasn't for the fact that Junior is terrified of her mom, Junior would never let Yang set foot in that club again."

"We sure have it rough, don't we?" said the guard with an exasperated sigh.

"Well, at least you're getting paid for the extra work, right?" asked Ruby.

"No, I'm still getting paid the same," the guard bemoaned, taking a screwdriver to the fuse box. "Even though I don't know the first thing about electrical work and am likely to shock myself. Did you know that they don't have workers' compensation? If I get injured on the job, I'm expected to pay for it myself. I'm working patrol on a hazardous island, for Oum's sake! That's a recipe for disaster!"

"That's so not fair!" Ruby gasped dramatically. "There's no way that's not illegal."

"I know, but we work for this guy privately, so we don't have a choice," the guard moaned.

"You deserve better than that," said Ruby firmly. She jumped off the trash can and snatched the screwdriver from the guard's hand. "Tell you what: let me worry about this dangerous electrical work and you go get yourself a pint down at the pub. On me," she added, handing him a crisp twenty pound note.

"Wow, thanks," said the guard appreciatively as he pocketed the note. "You know, you're all right, little girl. Here, take these," he handed her the set of keys. "You can use them to open the boxes. Meanwhile, I'm off to get myself rat-arsed! Cheerio!"

The patrolman happily turned on his heel and marched out of the alleyway with a delightfully spring in his step, humming "tiptoe through the tulips" as he disappeared around the corner. Ruby briefly waved him good bye, then looked at her newly acquired keys, jiggling them playfully, and pocketed them.

"… _ **I can't believe that actually worked**_ ," Weiss said over the comms, dumbfounded. " _ **Seriously, it's like every lackey on this island is missing a few million brain cells. Watts really needs to do a thorough evaluation of the people he hires.**_ "

"I'm not going to complain – makes my job a whole lot easier," said Ruby amusingly. She approached the electrical box and looked inside. "Okay, Weiss, I'm at the alarm. Now, I know you said I should deactivate the alarm with the manual…whatever thing, but wouldn't it be a whole lot easier just to break it with Crescent Rose."

" _ **Only if you want to tip off Watts that we're coming,**_ " Weiss hissed. " _ **You heard what that guard said: Watts has become even more paranoid since that false alarm went off at Laboratory 6, so he's double – and triple - checking all of the security detail around the island. If any of the guards see signs of tampering, they'll alert Watts and he'll no doubt increase the guards around the lab and his airship tenfold. His henchmen are idiots who don't know the first thing about electrical engineering. If we deactivate the alarms manual, they won't be able to tell the difference.**_ "

"Well, then it's a good thing that guard gave me his keys," said Ruby positively, patting her pocket. "So how do I do this? You got an instruction manual handy?"

" _ **Give me a second**_ …," Weiss hummed over the speaker; Ruby could hear a lot of frantic tapping. " _ **Okay, this should be simple enough, even for you. Take out the orange with yellow stripes and then replace it was the purplish-blue wire. Then move the white wire where the purplish-blue wire was and insert the orange with yellow stripes wire where the white wire was. Switch places between the red wire and the green wire with blue stripes. Then flip the switches labeled one – seven – eight – three – four in that order. Then –**_ "

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Ruby yelped, still looking through the wires. "I'm fast, but I'm not that fast! Now…was it the pink wire with the fuchsia wire, or…."

Weiss sighed irritably repeated the steps over, slowly.

Ruby painstakingly followed each of the hacker's instructions to the letter, though nearly shocking herself twice when she came close to putting the wire in the wrong socket. Once she flipped the final switch, she heard a low humming noise dying down behind the box. The Rose Thief poked her head around the corner of the alleyway, spotting one of the dozens of alarm horns at the top of a lamppost down the way. The faint red light on it flickered and then clicked off – the horn had been disabled.

"Mission accomplished," said Ruby cheerfully. She walked back to the electrical box, closed it, and locked it with the guard's keys. "That was way too easy."

" ** _You would have burned yourself to a crisp without my help_ ,**" said Weiss snidely. Ruby chuckled, not denying it. " ** _But the job's far from done. You only managed to disable a third of the town's alarms. There are two more electrical box on the opposite sides of town and both of them are bound to be more heavily guarded. One of them is, coincidentally, on the roof of the Salty Dog pub where Yang has already engaged in what could only be described as a stereotypical western style bar figh_ t.**"

"Good to know she's having fun," said Ruby, grinning.

" ** _And the last one will be connected to the radio tower that Xiao Long and I investigated_ ,**" said Weiss. " ** _We're not sure if anyone has found the guards we locked up, but they are bound to have a new patrol unit watching the place. Be careful_.**"

"Weiss, relax, I've done this kind of thing before," said Ruby confidently. "I'll just take a shortcut across the rooftops. None of the guards ever look up there. I can be in and out without them ever realizing I was there."

" _ **Somehow, that doesn't instill me with confidence** ,_" said Weiss bluntly.

Ruby rolled her eyes as she cut off the communicator in her ear before pivoting on her foot and running at alley wall. She kicked off the brick into the opposite wall, where she parkoured back and forth until she flipped to the roof of the butcher's shop. Having memorized the town's layout from her reconnaissance, Ruby knew which directions both the Salty Dog and the radio tower were, and calculated the distance between them. The pub was a little closer to her, plus Yang would be making a whole lot of noise to provide a distraction, so she could swing around the Salty Dog undetected before heading to the radio tower. This'll be a cinch, Ruby thought cockily.

The Rose Thief soared across the rooftops, practically gliding over the heads of the roaming guards who were either too dimwitted to notice her shadow zipping across the cobblestone road or were more preoccupied looking at their phones to care. There was a moment when a patrolman perked up after Ruby hopped off a hanging sign, which creaked under her foot, and looked up just as Ruby's cape whipped over the edge. Ruby immediately crouched low, her hand on Crescent Rose, contemplating whether or not she should take the guard out before her alerts the others. Thankfully, action wasn't needed as the guard shrugged his shoulders uncaringly and went back to playing Cavity Crash. Ruby let out a relieved sigh and resumed her run, albeit a little more careful this time.

Ruby rolled onto the roof of an abandoned floral shop ("You would think Watts would find something useful to do with all these buildings," said Ruby contemplatively), ran across, and stopped near the edge. Her target, the Salty Dog, was on the opposite side of the street, and looked to be the only building with any real working electricity on the whole block. The Rose Thief saw half a dozen of shadows running back and forth frantically past the tinted windows along with a whole lot of muffled shouting. Ruby briefly wondered if Yang was doing all right – her question was answered immediately when a brutish-looking guard was through head first through the window onto the street, immediately out cold.

" – and you're mama's like a doorknob – everyone gets a turn!" an obnoxiously loud woman yelled from inside.

"Oi! Me mum is a saintly woman, you tosser!" someone else shouted back.

"Sounds like Yang's doing a good job," said Ruby amusingly.

" ** _If there's one thing Xiao Long is good at, it's pissing people off_ ,**" said Weiss snarkily. " ** _The alarm system should be on the roof of the pub next to the door to the stairwell. You'll need to get over there to disable it_.**"

"Not a problem," said Ruby confidently.

The gap between the floral shop and the pub was a considerable distance and not something that Ruby could just jump over, and it would take too long to go around. But as she looked around the street, she spotted to streetlamps on opposite sides parallel to each other. If she got the angle right, she should be able to do it….

The Rose Thief took a few paces backward, bracing herself, and then jumped off the roof with a running start. Ruby's boot slammed on the first lamppost – a moment of panic flittered up her spine when the light tilted – and leapt forward with all the strength her legs could provide. She already knew she wasn't going to make it to the post, but Ruby quickly whipped out Crescent Rose to its full length and stretched her arm as far as it could go. She barely managed to hook her the scythe on the crook of the lamppost, letting her momentum swing her around, and released at the highest point of her arc. Ruby nearly faceplanted into the pub wall before she swung Crescent Rose up to hook the ledge of the roof, planting her feet against the wall to stop herself.

The Rose Thief let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She looked up and down the street in case anyone had seen her, but the lane was mostly clear except for the unconscious guards on the road, which seemed to have piled up while Ruby wasn't looking. Grunting with effort, Ruby pulled herself up over the ledge and landed flat on her bad safely on the roof, looking very relieved.

"See? Piece of cake," said Ruby with a sheepish laugh.

" _ **Right…**_ ," Weiss said, her voice laced with disbelief. " ** _Disable the control box before the guards wise up. Xiao Long can only be distracting for so long_.**"

Ruby pulled herself up, nearly stumbling over her feet, and walked over to the electrical box attached to the sider of the rooftop door. She used the keys she got from the dimwitted guard to open the box easy enough, but that was about as far as she got on her own – her memory wasn't the best when it came to complicated stuff. Weiss once again had to instruct her through process, and when she flipped the final switch, the alarm systems on the streetlights below flicked out.

"And that makes two," Ruby sang cheerfully as she closed the box.

" ** _Good_ ,**" said Weiss. " _ **That just leaves the control box on the radio tower. It sounds like Xiao Long is finishing up downstairs and Blake thinks she might have found something that will get us into Watts's airship undetected. Finish the last of the alarms and head back to the safehouse so that we can come up with a plan of attack.**_ "

"I'm already gone," said Ruby as she turned around…

And found herself going cross-eyed from staring at the long, customized cane being held up to her face.

The Rose Thief paused for a moment, her hands instinctively instantly raising themselves in a surrendering gesture, and her gaze travel upwards slowly. The cane belonged to Winter's new partner – Oscar Pines, if she remembered right – and the Ice Queen herself standing at his shoulder with one hand on the pommel of her saber. Oscar gestured hero stand up with his cane, which Ruby did slowly and realized that she was actually taller than Oscar, maybe even a few years older than him. How young was this kid, Ruby pondered.

"Well, well, look what we have here," Winter spoke in a silky tone with superior smirk. "We heard the commotion from down the street and came to investigate when we noticed to flying across the street like a trained circus monkey.

"Hey!" Ruby whined, feeling insulted.

"Ruby Rose, you are hereby under arrest for…um…a whole lot of stuff!" Oscar finished lamely, earning a couple of raised from Winter and Ruby. "What? It's my first time catching a bad guy. It's not like I had a speech ready," he complained, to which Winter rubbed the bridge of her nose irritably.

"Sooo…this is your new partner, Winter?" said Ruby casually. "He seems kinda…inexperienced for someone of your caliber."

"Hey…," Oscar moaned.

"Believe me, it wasn't my choice," Winter groaned. "The last thing I wanted was to get stuck babysitting the new kid."

"You know, I'm right here!" Oscar complained

"Regardless, you're pinned, Ruby Rose," said Winter, pointedly ignoring her partner and whipping out her handcuffs. "Make this easy on yourself and come along quietly. There's no one you're escaping this time."

Unfortunately, she's right, Ruby thought. Her back literally to the wall, Winter and Oscar were cautiously approuching her from either side, cutting off any immediate escape route. She could whip out Crescent Rose and try to fight her way out, but Ruby wasn't the best fighter on the team, plus Winter had a full decade of experience over her and Ruby had no idea what her partner could do. Ruby's eyes were running around the rooftop, looking for anything that would help her out of this precarious situation, when the rooftop door suddenly flew open and everyone froze on the spot.

One of the guards from downstairs practically threw himself out the door and slammed it shut behind him, wheezing breathlessly. He was sporting an impressive shiner and his cheek looked remarkably swollen – looked like Yang had roughed him up could. The guard put a hand over his frantically beating heart, taking deep, calming breaths, and as muttering to himself.

"That bloody siren – a devil in women's clothing, that's what she is. Lucky to get out of there alive. If I never see one of those witches again…," He paused mid-sentence when he turned around, taking in the odd situation before him. His eyes first fell on Ruby, then Winter, and then Oscar. He quickly put two and two together and muttered a miserable, "Oh, bollocks…"

Before either Winter or Oscar had time to react, Ruby grabbed the guard by the wrist and shoulder tossed him on top of the pair. Ruby made a mad dash for the edge of the rooftop and jumped to the next building before Winter threw the guard off an gave chase, Oscar scrambling behind her.

"Get back here, Rose!" Winter shouted.

"No way!" Ruby retorted.

Ruby landed flatfooted on the roof, sharply pivoted on her heels, and leapt into the streets as Winter and Oscar landed behind her. Just like when she was crossing over to the Salty Dog, Ruby bounced off one of the streetlamps, shooting herself across the road looking like a flying squirrel, and used Crescent Rose to grab hold of the post on the opposite end before flinging herself up to the next roof. The Rose Thief breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the imaginary sweat from her brow, and turned around smugly toward her pursuers…who landed directly in front of her a few seconds later.

Ruby's jaw dropped dumbfoundedly. Winter rose from her crouched position carrying Oscar under her arm – the boy looked a little ruffled and somewhat terrified – before dropping him. The redheaded thief blinked owlishly, then pinched herself on the cheek only to realize that she wasn't imagining it.

"Seriously?" Ruby gaped. "How'd you make it over."

"My father forced me to take ten years of gymnastics because it would make good PR," said Winter, her tone laced with a hint of disdain, as she drew her saber and leveled it to her eye. "Last chance, Rose. Surrender peacefully, or – "

"You're been chasing me for three years, Winter," said Ruby with an exaggerated eye roll, "and when has that ever worked, huh?"

"…Good point," Winter conceded.

Ruby had almost forgotten how fast Winter was went she tried, because the white-haired fencer closed the gap between them in the time it took Ruby to blink. She stabbed her saber at Ruby's eye, which the Rose Thief narrowly dodged only because she was slightly faster. Winter stabbed on the opposite side and Ruby tilted her head out of the way. Winter then swiped wide across the air, which Ruby ducked and rolled out from underneath. However, this left Ruby's back exposed for Winter to strike from behind, which the officer wasted no time taking. But at the last second, Ruby extended Crescent Rose behind her back, which deflected the saber with an ear-splitting  _ **clang**_!

The Rose Thief twirled her weapon, throwing Winter off her guard, and spun around with a sharp kick to her sides. But Winter's reflexes proved to be sharper as the white-haired woman swiped the saber behind her back and blocked Ruby's boot without flinching. She pushed Ruby away and moved into a fencer's starting stance as she stared down her opponent, who was crouched low to the ground with Crescent Rose hoisted cautiously over her shoulder.

Then was a brief pause when both opponents stared each other down until Ruby made the first move. The redheaded bandit twirled around, her cape whipping in front of Winter's face, effectively obscuring her view, and then swiped her little scythe from above. Winter only narrowly saw the weapon coming out of the corner of her eye and raised her saber to block it. Unfortunately, her sword got caught in the crook of the scythe and was lowered to side against her wishes. This left Ruby open to punch Winter in the face directly…or at least she would have if the INTERPOL officer hadn't caught her by the wrist mere inches from her nose. Winter kicked her boots at their connected weapons to separate them and then pulled Ruby around her shoulder before sending her flying across the air.

Ruby managed to twist her body in midair and landed properly on her feet, only having just enough time to collect herself before she dodged another one of Winter's stabs. Winter swiped her sword back and forth at lightning speed, pushing Ruby closer and closer toward the roof's edge. But as the fencer brought her saber back for a wide swing, Ruby suddenly lunged forward and slid through the gap between Winter's legs, pulling the woman's ankle as she went. Winter fell forward and had to drop her saber to catch herself, leaving Ruby with an opportunity to make a run for it. The Rose Thief looked over her shoulder as she ran, cackling cockily, when she was suddenly knocked flat on her back by a blunt instrument to the face.

Ruby groaned, blinking the color spots out of her eyes, and looked up to see Oscar standing over her with his cane pointed at her face.

"Cheap shot, bro," Ruby moaned.

"That's rich coming from you, criminal," said Oscar, trying to sound tougher than he actually was. "I'm placing you under arrest."

"I can't believe I ever thought you were cute," Ruby grimaced.

Oscar gave pause for a moment, his body fidgeting while he scratched his hair sheepishly, specks of pink forming on his freckled cheeks.

"You um…you think I'm cute?" Oscar asked embarrassingly.

"Oscar, pay attention!" Winter shouted from across the roof.

A little late, Ruby thought, as she kicked Oscar's face, knocking him flat on his back. The Rose Thief rolled forward onto her feet and took off at a mad dash. Oscar flailed around onto his hands and knees, scrabbled to his feet, and took off after Ruby with Winter pursuing from a short distance behind. The game of literal cops and robbers resumed across the rooftops as Ruby bounced from one building to the next with INTERPOL nipping at her heels. Funny enough, Ruby noted, they were making a whole lot of noise and yet Ruby hadn't seen a single guard look up even when she made a noisy clatter when she climbed over an old air conditioning unit. Either these guards were even dumber than she realized or they were running on video game logic.

" _ **Ruby, I'm still seeing the alarm system in the northern section of town is active,**_ " Wiess hissed in her ear. " _ **Where are you right now?**_ "

"Would you believe I'm being chased by your stubborn sister and her not-so-cute-anymore partner?" Ruby wheeze, landing on the next roof at a very bad angle.

" _ **What? How did they even find you?**_ " Weiss shrieked.

"Well, they heard Yang's fight – "

" ** _Never mind_ ,**" Weiss cut her off with an exasperated groan. " _ **I know you can get away from my sister with no problem, but there's still the issue with the alarm system. Blake just came back and we definitely have a plan of attack against Watts's ship, but we can't do anything if those alarms aren't disabled. Winter and the…farmhand won't give you enough time disable the system manually. Our best option might be to fall back to the hideout and try again tomorrow when they aren't expecting it.**_ "

"That would take too long," Ruby argued. She heard a sharp yell from behind; Oscar had tripped over an exposed pipe, but Winter quickly pulled him up by the back of his shirt and resumed the chase. "Besides, your sister already saw me hotwire one of the control boxes. How long will it be before she tells Watts what we did? He'll double the guards around the alarms and then we'll never take them out. And I'm pretty sure Watts will notice when a bunch of his guards have gone missing in the morning. We'll never get another chance at the pages."

" _ **And what do you suggest?**_ " Weiss challenged her.

"I've got one idea…," said Ruby.

" _ **Am I going to like it?**_ " asked Weiss.

"Probably not," Ruby replied amusingly.

" _ **Then I'm not going to ask,**_ " Wiess sighed. " _ **Just hurry up and take out the alarms. We'll have to start the big heist IMMEDIATELY when you get back.**_ "

"Roger that, Snowpea," Ruby acknowledged.

The communicator cut off as Ruby leapt to the roof of the ninth building they crossed since the chase started, pausing for a moment to look back at her pursuers. Winter was certainly keeping paced and she wasn't even winded – hunting Ruby for three years certainly kept her conditioned – but Oscar was falling farther behind as the race went on; he looked ready to drop at any moment. Ruby turned sharply on her heel, her cape whipping behind her, and started running again. They had reached a corner at the end of the street, so the Rose Thief leapt over to the nearest building headed in the northern direction. After crossing a few more rooftops, Ruby spotted her destination approaching from the distance: Watts's radio tower.

She stopped on the roof of the abandoned coffee shop, looking up and down the metal tower until her eyes fell on the electrical box welded to the base. Ruby smirked with confidence, looking over her shoulder once more. Winter was quickly catching up to her – Oscar looked like he would take a few more minutes before he was reach them, the poor kid.

Casually as one can be, Ruby walked over to the electrical box, turned around, and leaned against it in a way that concealed the box behind her cape. Ruby calmly crossed her arm and rest one boot against the tower just as Winter landed on the roof a few feet away. The INTERPOL officer paused in a moment of suspicion. She didn't like the way that Ruby Rose was smiling at her like that. Winter learned from experience that whenever she smiled after being cornered, it usually meant that she had some underhanded trap waiting for Winter to spring. That's the only reason she didn't immediately attack the Rose Thief. Instead, she kept a sizable distance between them while having her saber ready at the first sign of moment.

"What are you up to, Rose?" Winter questioned her.

"What make you think I'm up to something?" said Ruby nonchalantly. "I'm just standing here, hanging out, pretty chill – "

"You do not have Belladonna's gift for acting," Winter interrupted; Ruby pouted. "What were you doing back there on the tavern roof? Tampering with electrical equipment? For what purpose? What are you planning?"

"You're the detective, Ice Queen, you tell me," said Ruby smugly.

"I know you want revenge for your mother's death," said Winter coolly. Ruby's smile immediately vanished and was replaced with a deep frown. "I know Watts was one of the people responsible."

"Then you should help me take that monster down!" Ruby snapped. "He's a thief, murderer, and his mustache is crime to facial hair! You're supposed to be one of the good guys! Where's the justice in letting that monster walk free?"

"I'm trying, but I need real evidence," said Winter. "I want to help you get the justice you were denied, but becoming a criminal to fight criminals isn't the right way to do it. Just…please, give yourself up quietly, and I will do everything in my power to see that Watts and the Grimm what they deserve."

She sounded almost pleading as she offered her hand to Ruby. The Rose Thief stared at the extended limb for a moment, then shook her head with an angry glare.

"I waited ten years for justice and I never got it," said Ruby heatedly. "The system doesn't work. So now, we're taking it into our own hands."

"…I can't let you walk away from this, Ruby," said Winter, raising her saber threateningly. "You won't be escaping this time."

"Are you sure?" said Ruby, regaining her smug grin.

Winter quirked a brow, pondering how the Rose Thief could act so calm and collected in their current situation. Not a moment later, Winter heard a "Don't worry, I got her!" over her shoulder and the white-themed officer looked to her right as Oscar flew past her. The rookie let out a strangled battle cry, brandishing his cane like a sword, and swung down on Ruby with all his might. Ruby looked rather pleased with herself as she casually sidestepped and revealed the power box hidden behind her. Winter saw it and immediately put all the pieces together –

"Oscar, wait!" she cried.

But Oscar had already smashed through the box, cutting halfway like a hot knife through butter. His hair stood on end as the electricity surged through him, shouting random gibberish before he was blown back by the ensuing explosion. Winter, who had shielded her face with her arms, searched the roof. Oscar was lying flat on his back, looking cross-eyed and mumbling incoherently, but it didn't look like he was in any danger of dying. Her partner's cane was still lodged in the electrical box, which looked little more than a crumpled heap of burned metal and frayed wires. And as for Ruby Rose herself - well, Winter hadn't really expected her to linger. Winter cursed and returned the saber to her belt.

"One of these days, Rose…," Winter muttered to herself. She shook her head and walked over to Oscar. "Come on, partner, let's go make sure you're not brain damaged."

"There's an old guy living in my head," said Oscar in a loopy slur.

Winter shook her head and picked Oscar up off the ground, flinching briefly from the residual static on him, and carried the poor boy off the roof.

Meanwhile, Ruby, who had climbed to the top of the radio tower during all the chaos, watched them go before touching the communicator in her ear.

"All three alarm boxes have been decommissioned," said Ruby victoriously. "We are in the clear."

" _ **I see you couldn't help destroying the last one,**_ " said Weiss in an exasperated tone.

"Well, technically, I wasn't the one who broke it," said Ruby mischievously.

" _ **I really don't care at this point,**_ " Weiss groaned. Ruby could practically see the crinkle in Weiss's forehead whenever she was stressed or silently angry. " ** _Your little stunt didn't go unnoticed. Watts is getting all kinds of alerts about an explosion at the radio tower. Fortunately, Xiao Long took out much of the late shift guards at the bar, so that will buy us time, but Watts is bound to notice that his alarm systems have been tampered with and will likely find the mission guards Xiao Long and I left in the security room. If we're going to steal the pages, we have to do it NOW! Hurry on back to the safe house and be ready to head out_.**"

"On my way," Ruby confirmed, leaping off the radio tower, her cape billowing dramatically behind her. "It's time to get a little overdue justice."


	7. Lab Cat

With sunset quickly approaching, the building and alleyways cast larger shade, making it easier for Blake to move around the town than she had that morning with Ruby. With trained camouflage and silent footsteps, she slipped past the henchmen patrolling the streets like a living shadow. One could argue that she could have worn the uniform she had swiped from Watts's elite guard, but Blake didn't know if Watts's special forces were usually seen on the street, or even in town in general. So instead of risking suspicion, she decided to get around town the old-fashioned way.

Besides, It's much more satisfying sneaking past clueless guards.

Blake crouched next to a dumpster in the middle of a narrow alleyway that was, for some reason, filled with rotting fish, much to her displeasure – what kind of a monster wastes a good fish? On her back, she carried a large duffel bag hiding the elite guard uniform. From her hiding spot, the cat Faunus narrowed her focus on the entrance to Laboratory 6.

Unlike the security station, which had been hidden underneath a rotting café, the entrance to the lab looked to have once been an old pharmacy that had only recently been refurbished. The wooden paneling looked now and the windows appeared to have been recently washed, providing a small look of the few stocked shelves within. It seemed rather strange that Watts would spare the money to only renovate this building while leaving the rest of the town to rot, but Blake supposed that since this was the main base for his experiments that he wanted it to seems as important as he believes himself to be.

"Weiss, I'm outside the pharmacy building," said Blake, touching the communicator in her ear. "Looks like Watts spared no effort in sprucing the place up a bit. Definitely stands out compared to the rest of the town."

" _ **Figures that egomaniac would only bother spend anything on himself,**_ " said Weiss with a disgusted scoff. " _ **At least his egotism makes it easy for us to find. With that guard uniform you stole from Watts's goons, you should be able to slip inside without much resistance; that's considering whether or not Watts has found out that one of his guards is missing yet. Once you're inside, your communicator should still work, but you'll be walking in blind. I can't help you until navigate the lab until you establish a wireless connection.**_

"And all I need to do is find the server room without letting one know who I am," said Blake.

" _ **Once I'm inside the lab's mainframe, I can download the layout of the building**_ ," said Weiss. " _ **From there, I can direct you around the laboratory to where Watts is probably hiding all the good stuff.**_ "

"It's funny how similar this is to the day when we first met," said Blake with an amusing smile.

" _ **When you impersonated my father's secretary without him realizing it until Xiao Long tugged your bow off,**_ " said Weiss humorously; Blake nearly laughed when she heard the hacker snort. " _ **How we ever managed to escape an army of armed soldiers, I will never figure out. But let's focus on the current issue: getting inside Watts's laboratory and finding out what he's hiding. With any luck, we'll find something highly illegal that will give my sister a good reason to throw this monster behind bars.**_ "

"And find a way to get up to that ship," said Blake, tilting her head back to the airship floating above town. "I just need to change and then I'll head inside."

" _ **Remember, there's no guarantee that your current disguise will get you clearance into everything,**_ " Weiss reminded her. " _ **If need be, you'll need to switch places with someone on the inside, likely one of the scientists. Tell me once you've inserted the wireless uplink to the server room's main terminal and I can start digging for anything incriminating. Shouldn't be too hard.**_ "

Blake cut off the communicator, pulled the duffel bag around up front, unzipped it, and pulled out the special forces uniform. The disguise was still loose around her arms and legs – the previous owner had a lot more muscle mass – but was very tight around "bella-booty" as Yang insistently calls it. She tucked her long hair into the neck hole before jamming the helmet on her head, feeling around to make sure that none of them were exposed. Satisfied with her appearance, Blake pulled out the laser rifle that came with the uniform, squared her shoulders, and marched purposely across the street toward the pharmacy.

A small bell jingled above her head when she opened the door and stepped inside. Blake had to admit that Watts did a good job disguising the place; it looked just like a regular old-fashioned pharmacy. Plain-colored painted walls, six to eight shelves stocked with pain relievers, bandages, antibiotics – all things you would see at a regular drugs store. Blake absently wondered how many of these shelves would be empty after Yang was finished with her mission at the Salty Dog.

A burly-looking Englishman was sitting at the counter, looking largely out of place with his gigantic stature and colorful array of skull-themed and risqué tattoos covering both arms. He had been reading what looked to be a very inappropriate magazine when he glanced at Blake out of the corner of her eye. The man immediately sat up straight, throwing the magazine out of sight, and sputtered, "Uh – uh – 'ello there, chap. What can I do you for?"

"A surprise inspection," Blake responded, lowering her voice to sound more masculine. "After the alarm scare earlier today, Dr. Watts wants to make sure that everything is up to code and that everyone is doing their job right. And I do mean  _everyone_ ," she added menacingly, leaning closer to the shopkeeper for emphasis.

"B-B-But no one said anything 'bout an inspection," the shopkeeper stammered. "If we 'ad known – "

"It's called a 'surprise inspection' for a reason," Blake spoke harshly. "Now, are you going to let me in, or should I call the doctor and explain why I'm being delayed? What was your name again? I wanna know who to blame when he starts snarling."

"No, no, anything but that!" the burly man cried. What did Watts do to make them so terrified, Blake wondered. "'ere, let me get that for you – "

The shopkeeper scampered to the back of the store – Blake walked around the counter to follow at an even pace – and stopped in front of what appeared to be a blank wall. The shopkeeper then pushed a section of the wall up to reveal a set of elevator call button. As he pushed the down button, the blank wall next to them opened from the middle and slid sideways, unveiling a sleek-looking futuristic elevator behind it. Blake resisted the urge to say how cliché the whole thing was and stepped inside quietly. She turned around and looked at the panel on the side; there was only one button, so Blake obviously pressed that one. The elevator doors closed in the nervous shopkeeper's face and Blake felt the elevator move beneath her feet. The cat Faunus let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank Oum he didn't call my bluff," said Blake. "He was really afraid of Watts. Is the guy really that terrifying?"

" _ **Based on his profile, he doesn't seem like a physical threat, especially compared to the numbskulled goons he's hired,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **But the types of human experiments he's done over the years is enough to make even Xiao Long flinch. I would definitely recommend not getting caught**_ **.** "

"Thanks for pointing out the obviously, captain," said Blake sarcastically.

" _ **No one likes a sassy cat – well, maybe Xiao Long, but not me**_ ," said Weiss; Blake could imagine her rolling her eyes. " _ **Are you still wearing those computerized contact lens?**_ "

"The gold ones that Yang likes," said Blake, smirking.

The feline Faunus blinked three times in rapid succession. Several computer windows suddenly appeared within her vision that only she could see; a heartbeat monitor in the upper left corner, visual communication wavelength in the upper right, a steady stream of data on the lower left, and a motion sensing radar in the lower right. Blake's gaze immediately fell on the radar, taking note that more than dozen blips flashed on the sonar, getting steadily larger as she rode the elevator down.

"I can never get over how amazing these things are," said Blake, sounding almost excited. "It feels like I'm in a Batman video game."

" _ **Just make sure not to break them or get them wet**_ **,** " said Weiss warningly; the wavelength in Blake's vision fluctuated with each word. " _ **Do you know how much those things cost?**_ "

"We didn't pay for them," Blake retorted, raising a brow underneath her helmet. "You and Ruby stole them from an Atlas Research and Development base is Saskatchewan."

" _ **I know, but do you know how much they**_ **cost** _ **?**_ " Weiss hissed, making Blake's ears twitch. " _ **I can see everything you see through the lenses' camera and supply you with information to blend in, but I still need you to get to the server room to upload the information.**_ " The elevator shuddered to a stop and they heard a soft  _ding_! " _ **Put on your best acting face, cause it's showtime.**_ "

The elevator doors opened and Blake stepped out into what looked like the lobby of an office building. There was a waiting area with chrome chairs and a glass table, a front desk with a bored-looking woman – which was a surprise in and of itself – tapping away listlessly on a computer, and the wall behind her had a giant, stylized "W" nailed to it; as if Watts's ego wasn't big enough, Blake thought. The feline Faunus stiffened her back and marched across the lobby until she stood at the front desk. The secretary didn't seem to notice her – or maybe she just didn't care, to be honest – so Blake let out a loud coughing noise that finally dragged the woman's lifeless eyes away from the computer screen.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a slow, drawling voice. How dead inside was this woman, Blake wondered.

"Surprise inspection," said Blake, using her deep voice again. "Need to make sure the place is up to code after the false alarm earlier."

"Do you have an appointment?" asked the secretary, and Blake actually did a double-take.

"Um…this is a  _surprise_ inspection," Blake said with emphasis. "The whole point of a surprise inspection is so that the people on the job don't know we're coming."

"So you don't have an appointment?" asked the secretary again.

"No, I – " Blake sputtered incoherently, facepalming herself and dragging the hand down her visor. "Look, Dr. Watts personally sent me to check the place out and make sure it's running properly. Now unless you want to call him up and explain to him why the inspection is being delayed, I would kindly ask that you tell me the way to the central terminal."

"One moment, please," said the secretary blandly. She picked up the phone and quickly dialed a number, waiting until the other side picked up. "Yes, this is laboratory 6. Could you please connect me to Dr. Watts?"

Panic began to rise in Blake's stomach; she thought her bluff would have held up a second time. Dozens of plans began swirling inside Blake's head, most of them involved incapacitating of the secretary and wrenching the phone out of her hand. Before Blake could decide which technique would be most useful, one of the side doors opened up and a portly man with a thick, graying beard wearing a lab coat walked into the lobby. He was heavily scrutinizing something on his electronic pad when he looked up and spotted Blake in her elite uniform twitching nervously at the front desk.

The portly man gave a surprised yelp, shuffled up to Blake, and said, "Good lord, what is one of Dr. Watts's personal guard doing down here? Is everything all right? Is there trouble? Is this about the alarm earlier? We're still investigating the cause of it, if the doctor is wondering."

Blake computerized contact lenses scanned the newcomer's facial pattern, transmitting a steady flow of data back to Weiss's personal computer back at the base. A moment later, the window in the bottom left corner popped up and presented an image of the man along with list of personal information under the name of "Dr. Abner Taupe".

" _ **Blake, that's Dr. Taupe, one of the leading experts in bioengineering,**_ " Weiss informed her over the communicator. " _ **He went missing two years ago after conference in Germany where he presented the idea of replacing failing organs with electronic prosthesis, which, incidentally, was part of the same field of research that Dr. Watts was working on. You know, before he snapped his twig and started mutilating people into cyborgs.**_ "

"Says he's here for a surprise inspection," the bored-looking secretary droned, cupping a hand over the phone's receiver. "I was just calling the doctor to confirm – "

"Miss Marsh, if one of Dr. Watts's personal guards has shown up, then obviously he would have been the one to send them," said Dr. Taupe. He reached over the desk, pried the phone from Miss Marsh's hand, and slammed it back on the base. "You shouldn't go bothering the doctor like this – he's a very busy man."

"Whatever," Miss Marsh groaned, rolling her eyes. "Don't blame me if it turns out to be a spy under that helmet."

"Such an active imagination, that one," said Dr. Taupe amusingly, turning back to Blake. "So…what can I do you for?"

"Oh, uh, I need to inspect the lab and make sure everything is working how it's supposed to," Blake said quickly, snapping to attention. "After the alarm scare earlier, Dr. Watts wants to make sure that there aren't anymore…issues."

"Right, right, of course, of course," said Dr. Taupe, waving his hand dismissively. "I suppose that word of those vile, villainous thieves mucking about the town – " Blake felt the corners of her lips curve upwards at the irony " – the good doctor would justifiably be a little paranoid. But I assure you, there is nothing to be concerned with. Everything is in tip-top shape."

"I'll be the judge of that," said Blake with a bit of an authoritarian tone. "Show me."

"As you wish," Dr. Taupe agreed.

The rotund man turned on his heel and walked back through the door he came from, Blake nipping at his heels, leaving the bored secretary to roll her eyes and went back to work.

They stepped into a long hallway that was so blindly white that Blake was grateful for the helmet's darkened visor. It gave a sterile feeling to the place, like there would be major repercussions if there was so much as a little dot on the wall. There were several open doorways were on each side of the hall, filling the corridor with an orchestra of noises from the clattering of test tubes and hum of machines to the skull-rattling screeches of drills and the unnecessary pounding of hammers on metal. Blake flattened her secondary ears against her head, but it did very little to block out the noise. She quickly shook it off and followed Dr. Taupe as the portly scientists walked along the corridor with his hands folded behind his back.

"A few of our researchers were…'alarmed' – "Dr. Taupe snickered at his own joke. Blake rolled her eyes, sorely thankful Yang wasn't here to contribute " – when the intruder alert went off. Their panic was understandable; this is the most secure facility on the entire island, next to Dr. Watts's personal airship. Of course, you already know that; the only entrance is guarded every second of the day. Some of them wanted to flee, but is sat them down and said," he coughed into his fist and put on an air of importance, "'Anyone who walks out that door will be reported to Dr. Watts immediately – no exceptions'. And just like that, things calmed down and everyone resumed their work until you and the other personal guards turned up."

"Is everyone really that afraid of the doctor?" asked Blake curiously, briefly looking through the doorway on her left; a couple of scientists looked to be working with volatile chemicals. "He doesn't seem like that big of a threat."

"You must be new on the job," said Dr. Taupe, shaking his head with a thin smile. "Dr. Watts is always sorely underestimated, and those who attempt to go against him tend to learn this the hard way."

"Is that why you work for him?" said Blake, making a mental note of several caged animals in the room on the right. "Because you're afraid of him?"

"Oh no, I would for Arthur Watts because the man is a genius," Dr. Taupe said admirably. "His work is groundbreaking. It could revolutionize humanity itself. But the poor man is constantly hindered by the simple-minded Neanderthals who think his research is 'immoral' and 'unethical'. True science cannot be bound by trivial notions like morals and ethics! True science requires sacrifice for the greater good, even at the cost of one's life! Dr. Watts understands this! He will guide the world into a better future!"

_Oh great, Watts has a groupie_ , Blake thought disdainfully. The feline Faunus tunes Dr. Taupe out after that and starts looking at the various lab rooms, tilting the helmet from one side to the other only slightly so that it isn't obvious to anyone looking at her. Laboratory 6 didn't appear to have one single project and instead seemed to have several rooms for different pursuits. One chamber had a pair of scientists working with sonic wavelengths, another room was devoted to developing animal translators, and one of the labs at the end of the corridor seemed to be developing a process to increase the growth in crops with negative side effects.

" _ **All of these experiments…**_ ," Weiss muttered over the communicator. " _ **Dr. Taupe was right about one thing – any one of these projects could benefit humanity. From curing deafness to ending world hunger.**_ "

"Too bad it's all in the hands of a psychopathic murderer," Blake muttered.

"Did you say something?" asked Dr. Taupe, looking over his shoulder curiously.

"Nothing!" Blake said quickly.

The end of the corridor split off into two opposite directions. To their right, there was  _another_  hallway with half a dozen laboratory testing chambers, though they had steel doors blocking off the entrances, each of them plastered with a different hazard warning like radiation, high voltage, biological hazard, and even a laser hazard warning. And at the very end of the corridor was a bolted, high-security door with a sign pinned to the wall labeled "Server Room".

_Bingo,_  Blake thought, smiling under her helmet.

Curious, Blake turned her head to the other hallway. There was only one door at the very end of the corridor, and it was more heavily reinforced than the server room. According to the computerized lenses, the entryway was an adamantium-enforced blast door surrounded by a reinforced vibranium wall estimated to be four-feet thick. The small nodes on the door's edge were an indication to a laser grid that would activate if someone tried to break in without access. And, of course, what would a high-security chamber be without an entire hallway covered by a full dozen swerving security cameras, covering every inch of the hall. Even Fort Knox didn't have this level of security – Blake knew; she broke in during one of her ventures before joining the Rose Gang.

"So, what do you think?" Blake snapped out of her reverie when Dr. Taupe turned around and addressed her. "Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, what's that down there?" Blake asked, gesturing her rifle to the security door.

"Oh, that's Dr. Watts's private laboratory," said Dr. Taupe, sounding surprised by the question. "That's where all of his most important research happens. Of course, I can't let you in. Only personnel with Level 5 access are allowed in there, and the only people with that kind of clearance is Dr. Watts and myself."

"So…you can get in there?" Blake said slowly, thoughtfully.

"Yes, with this access badge," said Dr. Taupe proudly, actually whipping out the laminated card from his pocket, to Blake's disbelief. "But don't get any ideas. I'm not going to let you in just because you're Watts's personal guard. The man would flog me if he knew I let anyone it's his personal workshop."

" _ **You need to get that access card from him**_ ," said Weiss as Dr. Taupe pocketed the key. " _ **Find some way to get him alone, knock him unconscious, and steal his badge and coat. Hopefully, by the time anyone finds him, we'll already be making our escape.**_ "

"Is there anything else I can do you for?" asked Dr. Taupe.

"Uh, right, I still need to see the server room," said Blake, suddenly remembering where she was. "Dr. Watts was  _very_ insistent on it being given a thorough inspection. To make sure that someone didn't try hacking the system when the alarms went off."

"Of course, I should have thought of that," said Dr. Taupe. "I heard those nasty thieves have a hacker among them. Though, when compared to a man of great intelligence like Dr. Watts, those thieves may have a better chance with a drooling monkey slamming its face against the keyboard."

"… _ **Blake, be sure to make it extra painful for him,**_ " Weiss hissed in a venomously low voice.

Blake ignored the hacker's snarls and followed Dr. Taupe down the down the hallway, jumping only slightly when a muffled explosion sounded from the door on her right. When reaching the bolted door, she noticed a card reader on the wall underneath the sign. Dr. Taupe stopped in front of the reader and turned back to Blake. The doctor looked expectantly at Blake, which she quickly realized was his way of saying she should be the one to open the door, as if he was topo good to do it himself. Blake bit back a snarky remark, stepped up to the card reader, whipped out the laminated keycard she had taken from the original wearer of this armor, and swiped it. The reader beeped, flashed a green light, and door split open with a sharp hiss.

She felt the sharp chill of the server room's air conditioning system through the exposed parts of her arm; Blake bit her tongue to stop herself from hissing like a frightened cat. Inside were at least two dozen towers of computer banks lined in neat rows two feet apart from one another arranged in a diamond pattern. In the center of the miniature forest of servers was a lonely computer screen raised on top of a steel table, which was attached to thick cables connecting to each of the towers.

Blake didn't wait for Dr. Taupe; she broke out into a brisk walk, slithering her way in between the computer towards, and marched up to the computer screen. The computer was already booted up, but it needed a password to access.  _Not an issue,_  Blake thought confidently. The feline Faunus withdrew the white flash drive from her pocket and inserted it into one of the terminal's dozen USB ports. She waited patiently until the red light at the end of the stick turned green and the monitor was replaced by a blue screen emblazoned by the Snowpea's snow flake emblem.

" _ **Wireless feed coming in…,**_ " Weiss muttered slowly; Blake could hear the rapid keystrokes over the communicator. " _ **Bypassing firewalls one…two…three…wow, four and five different types of firewalls. I'm**_ **almost** _ **impressed. Interfacing with wireless route…connecting to server access…aaaand…. Knick-knack, you've been hacked,**_ " she added with a sing-song tone of victory. The blue screen flickered back to the log-in screen, which was quickly filled out despite Blake not touching a single key. " _ **Let me just take care of this pesky password…. Grimmgenius41, really?**_ "

The window opened to the main screen and, to Blake and Weiss's mutual disgust, a wallpaper of Dr. Watts with the smarmiest grin possible. Thank Oum Weiss quickly went to work, opening more than a dozen windows that completely covered the monitor. Various complicated schematics and endless flow of data popped up everywhere Blake looked, but quickly disappeared before the Feline Faunus had a chance to get a good look. Not like it would have done much; Blake didn't understand a single iota of this technobabble. It was times like this that Blake truly appreciated Weiss's computer genius.

" _ **I'm decrypting as many of Watts's files as I can,**_ " Weiss announced. " _ **Unfortunately, nothing too incriminating so far. I found a few of designs for his airship,**_ " a detailed blueprint of said airship appeared on the monitor, " _ **and it definitely confirms that the ship has a storm machine on-board that affects the surrounding atmosphere through temperature change. But since Watts hasn't done anything other than use it to defend his own private island, Winter can't arrest him for it. Buuuut, I think I might have found something we can use for the heist.**_ "

"What's that?" said Blake curiously.

" _ **Apparently, Dr. Watts is developing a long-ranged cannon for his airship,**_ " answer Weiss. " _ **It's designed to shoot weather modifying chemicals into clouds with pinpoint accuracy to control the amount and type of precipitation without going through the painstaking effort of chasing them. Watts could probably spin this as something beneficial to the public, but his obvious aim is to spread his storm generator. The cannon has just finished development on another sight and is awaiting transfer.**_ "

"And how is this going to help with the heist?" asked Blake.

" _ **Well…according to the schematics, the cannon should be large enough…to fit a full-grown person…**_ ," Weiss said slowly.

"Are you seriously consider we should shoot Ruby out of a cannon?" Blake said incredulously. "Are insane?"

" _ **It worked in the Cirque du Soleil job**_!" Weiss cried.

"That was for a stage performance!" snapped Blake.

" _ **Look, I don't like it either, but it's possibly our best shot!**_ " Weiss argued. " _ **Watts is on to us, and thanks all the ruckus we've been causing around town, we don't have long before we're caught! We're not getting into the airship through regular means, so the cannon is the only route I can see within our limited time frame! Look, I understand you're concerned – I am, too – but according to the schematics, the cannon pressure can be adjusted when necessary. I can make it safe enough to shoot Ruby up to Watts's airship without splattering her all over the wall.**_ "

"Ugh…I don't like it…but I see your point," Blake conceded. "We'll worry about the details back at base. But we still need incriminating evidence against Watts. Did you check his messages? Maybe he wrote something to the other Grimm that we can use."

" _ **Let me check,**_ " Weiss hummed.

"Um, excuse me," Blake nearly jumped out of her armor. She had completely forgotten about Dr. Taupe, who was having a rough time squeezing through the computer towers because of his potbelly. "Don't mean to be rude, but…how did you get into the server? I wasn't under the impression that Dr. Watts gave out his password to his guards. And what is that thing?" he gestured to the white flash drive sticking out of the base.

Blake stayed silent, knowing that she could probably come up with some kind of excuse that would seem semi-believable. But she didn't need to convince him. It was just the two of them – alone – in a room that possibly only a few people had access to. There was no better opportunity, Blake thought.

She turned around slowly on her heels to face the doctor, knowing she must appear rather menacing, especially with her darkened visor reflecting his increasingly nervous expression. Dr. Taupe took one step back…then two…then turned around and sprinted between the servers. Unfortunately for him, his plump body hinder the process as there was not a whole lot of room to maneuver for someone of his size. Blake all but casually paced up to the doctor, grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat, and pulled him back. The feline Faunus flipped him around to face her, then grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him down to connect his forehead with her armor-plated knee. Dr. Taupe flopped on his back, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, but still very much alive – at least, Blake knew when she checked his pulse.

" _ **Still playing Batman?**_ " Weiss asked teasingly.

"It's very fun," said Blake amusingly. She grabbed the helmet with both hands and pried it off her head, letting out a relieved sigh when the cold air touched her face. "Oum, I didn't realize how sweaty underneath that thing. My hair is probably a disaster." She reached crouched beside Dr. Taupe, digging around his coat pocket until she found the Level 5 keycard. "But at least we found a way into Watts's private lab. And I even have a disguise to go with it," she added, tugging at the doctor's coat.

" _ **Let's just hope no one notices that Dr. Taupe suddenly turned into a Faunus woman**_ ," said Weiss. " _ **As for his messages, it doesn't seem like Watts keeps regular contact with the other Grimm. The most recent one was dated three weeks ago from Tyrian Callows. Nothing too important – just that he wants Watts to stop by his base in Arizona to fix a malfunction in his stinger.**_ "

"Well, at least we have a better clue about where one of them is hiding," said Blake as she tried on Dr. Taupe's coat. It was very loose; at least three times too big. "And that he has a tail that needs repaired, so he's probably a Faunus, or at least posing as a Faunus."

" _ **That's about all I can glean from this,**_ " said Weiss with an exasperated sigh. " _ **Gotta hand it to Watts; he's the cautious type. Doesn't leave anything that could incriminate him inside his own server room. You might have better luck in his private lab. But first….**_ "

When Blake looked back at the computer monitor, a bar labeled "File upload" appeared on the screen. Millions of files flew across the monitor in milliseconds as the bar filled out fast than anything Blake had ever seen before. By the time she had blinked, the upload had completed with a happy chime.

"What did you just do?" asked Blake curiously.

" _ **I just released all his projects into the internet,**_ " said Weiss; Blake could practically hear the smug grin. " _ **A little insult to injury. At the very least, we can make sure all of his experiments can be found by the right people. Now, hurry over to Watts's lab before the good doctor finds out an goes on a rampage.**_ "

She cut off the communicator and Blake looked down at Dr. Taupe's unconscious body. It should be safe to leave him here for a little while, Blake figured. Only a few people have access to the server room, and by the time he woke up, they would be long gone. So Blake climbed over his body, leaving behind the elite guard uniform, and quickly made her way out into the hallway. She tried not too walk too fast so as not to seem suspicious, burying her hands in her pockets to appear nonchalant if someone walked out and saw her. Thankfully, no one did and she crossed the corridor unnoticed. However, as she approached the door to Watts's private laboratory, she suddenly remembered the camera array swerving overhead.

"Weiss, the cameras – " Blake hissed.

" _ **Already ahead of you**_ ," said Weiss quickly.

Blake paused for a moment in the middle of the corridor, stopping short of the camera's range of vision. After a few seconds waiting, the cameras stopped moving all together, indicating that they were offline. The feline Faunus quickly paced down the corridor and stepped up to the electronic card reader bolted into the wall next to the armored door. Blake took a cautious glance back over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching, whipped out Dr. Taupe's keycard, and swiped it. The light on the reader turned green and the doors split open with a soft hiss. Blake ducked inside before the blast doors opened completely and slammed the button on the wall next to it, shutting the doors behind her. Without having to worry about anyone peeking in on her, Blake took a look around the laboratory…and immediately slammed her hands over her mouth and nose in revulsion.

Her sharp Faunus nose was overwhelmed with the thick stench of oil and iron – and iron smell was coming from the half dozen autopsy tables on the far right of the room, which were covered in blood splattered, many of them which looked fresh. Small jars of strange green liquid rested on the metal benches next to the tables with various objects floating inside them, but Blake didn't dare get close enough to investigate them in fear for her gag reflex. On the left side of the chamber was where the stench of oil came from; a long workbench of various tools – several of the bladed instruments sprayed in blackened-red on the edges – and mechanical parts that appeared to be in the process of forming a metal arm. The wall behind the workbench had several racks holding up many different types of mechanical body parts ranging from legs, to eyeballs, to something that resembled internal organs.

Needless to say, Blake did not feel comfortable.

"Weiss, are you seeing all this?" Blake grimaced.

" _ **Seeing and recording,**_ " answered Weiss. A flickered red circle appeared in the corner of Blake's vision. " _ **Make sure you get a good look of everything. This is undeniable proof that Watts hasn't stopped his human experiments. Once I send this video to Winter, she'll have no choice to arrest the psychopath.**_ "

"Ugh…and I thought Adam was a monster…," Blake muttered to herself as she approached the autopsy tables, getting an eyeful of the dried blood on the chrome.

" _ **Who?**_ " asked Weiss curiously.

"No one you should worry about," Blake said quickly. She picked up one of the green jars and made a disgusted noise when she found herself staring at a large intestine. "My Oum, I can't believe how far Watts has gone. He used to be a brilliant scientist, and then he went completely insane and started…mutilating people. For what? The betterment of humanity? How is any of this supposed to make humanity better?"

" _ **Humans are born flaws, but narcissists like Watts can't accept that,**_ " Weiss responded, her voice tinged with a sense of familiarity. " _ **They have this distorted view of perfection and they'll do whatever it takes to achieve it, regardless of the people they hurt along the way…. My father was similar in that regard…my mother….**_ "

"You don't have to talk about it, Weiss," Blake interrupted swiftly. The rest of the team was familiar with Weiss's story, the reason behind her becoming a hacker. "Let's just focus on taking this psychopath down. Do you have everything you need to nail him?"

" _ **Almost**_ ," said Weiss; Blake heard her take a clam, collective breath over the comms. " _ **I still need a shot of that workbench.**_ "

Blake set the jar down and wordlessly crossed the laboratory. She made sure to look over the wall of mechanized body parts before she looked down over the bench, focusing especially on the bloodied tools. Her gaze wandered over the half-finished arm when she noticed a roll of blue paper tucked away in the corner behind a jar of nuts and bolts. Blake pulled out the paper, unrolled it, and stared at what looked like a complicated schematic for some sort of machine. Blake wasn't a genius per se, but from the details she could gather, this looked to be a blueprint for creating a fully mechanized humanoid. She glanced at the name in the upper right of the page:

"Project: P.E.N.N.Y…." Blake murmured thoughtfully. "What is he - ?"

" _ **Uh-oh, problem, Blake,**_ " Weiss alerted her, snapping Blake out of her thoughts. " _ **Watts is on his way down.**_ "

"What? Why?" Blake sputtered in surprise.

" _ **He just noticed all his files being scattered all over the internet,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **From the sound of his communications, he's furious. He's coming down to investigate the lab with his personal guard, and you can bet he'll notice that one of them is missing. You need to get out of there – fast!**_ "

"But if Watts finds Dr. Taupe in the server room – " Blake said, but Weiss cut her off.

" _ **Watts already knew we were on the island, but now he**_ **knows** _ **what we've been up to,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **We don't have a choice. We have to pull off the heist**_ **immediately** _ **before Watts has time to plan a counterattack. Yang is on her way and Ruby's finishing up with the last of the alarms. Come on back to the hideout so we can get this operation underway.**_ "

Blake looked over the blueprints for Project: P.E.N.N.Y. one last time, rolled it back up and stowed it back where it was before. The cat Faunus tore her way back through the long corridors, ignoring the strange stares she was getting from the scientist and the secretary as she passed by, almost smashing the button as the elevator doors closed behind her.

Miss Marsh barely looked up from her keyboard and said, "I'm not getting blamed for this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two important announcements to make.
> 
> Number one: for all of those who are fans of my Akko Kagari series, I am proud to announce that it now has its own Tvtropes page! It's pretty awesome and you should definitely check it out, and maybe even contribute to the page if you wish. I would also like to give a special thanks to my loyal reader, Pvt-Winters for making the page. You're awesome, buddy.
> 
> Number two: As of July, I am taking an extended vacation away from writing for a while to rest my weary mind and take care of some personal things that I have been putting off for a while. I don't know when I will be back to writing, but I guarantee that I will have the next chapter ready by August 1st at the latest.
> 
> So, go check out tvtropes and I will see you all in the near future.


	8. Barside Beatdown

Ruby like running as fast as humanly possible and Blake preferred sticking to the shadows, but that wasn't Yang's style. If you asked her, if you got it, flaunt it. So it should have come as no surprise to anyone that the Blonde boxer could be seen practically strutting down the cobblestone road, shaking her hips enticingly, and jutting out her chest for extra attention, wearing her favorite aviator glasses and a cocky grin…. And when she tripped on a loose stone and fell in an undignified heap on the ground, she decided that wearing sunglasses at sunset  _might_ not be the smartest thing right now. She quickly stowed them away in her jacket, coughing in to her fist, looking around hoping no one saw her, and resumed her confident strut.

Over her earpiece, she heard Weiss give an insufferable sigh.

" _ **What**_ **are** _ **you doing, Xiao-Long?**_ " she grumbled; Yang could practically hear the scowl on the other side.

"Heading over to The Salty Dog right now," said Yang like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That  _was_  my mission assignment, wasn't it?"

" _ **Yes, but I figured you'd get over there, you know,**_ **stealthily,** _ **like a thief is supposed to be,**_ " said Weiss exasperatedly. " _ **You do know that Watts has men searching all over the island for us, right?**_ "

"You said my job to, and I quote, 'walk into the Salty Dog, kick their asses, and then stow them away somewhere no one will find them'," Yang repeated in a falsetto pitched voice that was, apparently, supposed to mimic Wiess's; the hacker emitted a low growl over the comms. "The way I figure it, if I'm gonna spend the night manhandling some ugly grunts, there's no point in sneaking around, right?"

" _ **That's not what I –**_ " Weiss started to say before she was cut off.

"Oy! You there! Stop!"

"Speaking of which," said Yang with a hint of mirth.

Yang turned on her heel and smiled plainly as two stereotypically thuggish henchmen hurried down the street toward her, stopping on either side of her with suspicious glares. One of them apparently recognized her because they had the sense to scroll through their phone and started looking through INTERPOLS most wanted list (something Watts no doubt ordered his men to download). He paused after a few seconds and flipped the phone around for them to see the screen. It was of the mugshot Yang had taken when she allowed herself to get arrested during a job in Beijing, winking flirtatiously at the camera with her hands folded behind her head and sticking out her chest, taking up half the shot.

"Well, 'ello there, lassie," the grunt with the phone said with a thick cockney accent. "Looks 'ere like we gots ourselves a nasty lil' thief in our midst."

"That is a nice photo, lass," said the second grunt, earning an annoyed leer from his partner.

"I can never take a bad picture," said Yang haughtily.

"Well, regardless, the ol' doctor will wanna be seein' you, lass," said the first thug, grabbing Yang roughly by the forearm. "Come along, then."

The Rose Gang knew from personal experience that there were times when Yang got angry enough that he eyes almost looked like they turned red. Those occasions usually happened during one of three scenarios: touching her luscious mane of golden hair, putting mayonnaise on a hot dog ("what kind of sick monster does that!"), and men thinking they could pull her or her girls around. Three guesses where this scenario fell in….

Yang bared her teeth as she reached around and grabbed the goon by the wrist, trapping his in a vie-like grip until he let go with a humiliating whimper. She then twists his arm around until it is extended behind his back, letting out a howl of pain, before Yang brought her knee up to connect with his nose. As his head flew back, droplets of blood flying through the air, Yang let go of his arm and turned on her heel for a spinning roundhouse to the underside of his chin. The thug went flying into the nearby alley where he landed headfirst into a trash bin by happy coincidence.

The second henchman tried to jump her while he back was turned, but Yang sharply threw her elbow back into his stomach to stop him in his tracks. Yang flipped around and nailed him across the face with a right hook, then quickly pulled back to sock him in the other direction. The blonde brawler followed up with a flurry of punches to the chest before hitting him with an uppercut that knocked him off his feet. And in that brief moment when he was off the ground, Yang jumped into the air, stomped her heels against his chest, and flipped backwards, gracefully landing on her feet while the goon disappeared into the darkness of the alleyway on the opposite side of the street.

Yang brushed the imaginary dust off her jacket, touched the communicator in her ear and said, grinning, "Like I said, no point in hiding."

" _ **You are insufferable,**_ " Weiss groaned over the earpiece. " _ **The Salty Dog should be around the corner from where you are. Ruby is on her way to the first alarm system and Blake is getting close to Laboratory 6. I don't know how their missions are going to turn out, but at the very least, you could take the heat off of them for a little while.**_ "

"Relax, I got this," said Yang confidently. "Nobody kicks off a bar fight like me – just ask Junior."

Yang rounded the corner and there, fifteen or so feet down the road, was her target: The Salty Dog. Being an avid party girl and a 'connoisseur' of alcohol, Yang had been to a lot of seedy-looking taverns in her time, and in her expert opinion, the Salty Dog was at least middle-rank as far as pubs go. It looked like someone actually took care of the place since the wooden paneling wasn't rotted away like the rest of the town and the seafoam-green paint looked brand new. Yang could hear lively swing music coming through the open windows – the owner probably had them removed from all the times people went flying through them – and drunken cheers rang out. A square wooden sign hung above the door with the pub's name written in a fancy looping scrawl. The Blonde brawler gave the pub an appreciative look before she stepped inside.

As she expected the building was crowded with dozens of brutish-looking British thugs all of them in full swing of the lively atmosphere. Some people were sitting in the back, playing cards and drinking responsibly like good little guards, while others were dancing on tables, swinging their frothy mugs around, and singing, off tune, to the radio blasted at full volume on the counter. And not a single person even noticed Yang when she walked into the building, which was, like, totally rude in Yang opinion. I mean, who wouldn't stop and stare at five-foot-eight of pure, hot sexiness like her?

Yang practically had to shove her way toward the counter (seriously, did no one see the drop-dead gorgeous bombshell standing right in front of them?) and banged her fist on the wood. The bartender had his back turned to her, already in the process of mixing another customer's drink. He didn't turn around when he asked, "What can I get for you?"

"Strawberry sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas," Yang answered automatically; it was her go-to pick whenever she stopped off for a drink.

"Huh, funny, that reminds me of – OH GOD, NOT YOU AGAIN!" The bartender screamed shrilly when he turned around to face her.

"Junior?"

Sure enough, it was her old "friend" Hei Xiong, otherwise known by his street name, Junior (why a grown man would willingly be called Junior, Yang had no idea). And judging by the way the old bartender was practically quaking in his recently polished shoes, he clearly knew who she was. That came as no surprise since Yang has regularly visited, and subsequently destroyed, his night club in China during her younger years with the Branwen Tribe. Despite hiring what seemed like hundreds of goons to keep her out, Yang always managed to find a way to break in a wreck the place. It wasn't like she did it intentionally, she argued, she just didn't like people touching hair. A year before she and Ruby left the tribe, Junior finally called it quits, packed up the whole club, and moved to a completely different country…until Yang caught up to him again, and again, and again….

"How do you keep finding me," Junior moaned, practically a whimper, flattening himself against the wall as if she were some kind of monster. "Everywhere I go, you're always there: Tahiti, Cancun, Las Vegas, Rome, Monte Carlo, Disney World. Are you stalking me or something?"

"No, those are just a bunch of happy coincidences," said Yang, leaning against her hand with a devilish grin. "What're  _you_ doing out here in the middle of nowhere, Junior. This is the last place I would think you'd end up."

"That was the point," Junior groaned. "I thought I would finally be able to get away from you here. Should've known better.

"Yeah, you should've," Yang teased, taking a quick glance around. "Hey, are the twins here? I wanted to say hi."

"Nah, they quit after the whole Disney World thing," said Junior unhappily. "They were tired of getting beat up and said the pay wasn't worth it."

"Aw, that's too bad," said Yang, pouting. "I always had such a good time with them…during  _and_  after the fighting," she added with a suggestive wink.

" _ **God, someone kill me right now,**_ " Weiss complained in her ears; Yang honestly forgot the hacker was listening.

"Please, blondie,  _please_  tell me you're not here to start trouble," Junior was practically begging, hands folded in a pleading motion. "I've almost made it three months without any incidents and I'm finally starting to pay off my debts for the other places you trashed. Please say you're not going to destroy the place."

"Oh, Junior…," said Yang softly, patting his head in a mocking sort of way. "You should know me better than that by now."

"…Can you at least wait until I put all the good stuff away?" Junior pleaded.

Yang paused for a moment, thinking, and said, "Give me my Strawberry Sunrise and you'll have until I'm done with it."

Like magic, a glass of fruity alcohol materialized on the counter and into Yang's waiting hand. The blonde brawler lightly sipped her beverage while Junior frantically started collecting all the bottle on the shelf, fully ignoring the other customers her were beating their fists on the counter demanding to get drunk. Yang let out a short chuckle, flipped around, leaning against the bar, and surveyed her surroundings while nursing her drink. Somewhere around twenty or thirty standard henchmen, about the same height and build as the ones from the security station, none of them carrying guns, which almost made Yang feel bad for packing her double shotguns – almost. Yang had vivid flashbacks of her earliest fights in Junior's first nightclub, and so did Junior, if his increased pacing was anything to go by.

Yang knocked the last of her Strawberry Sunrise and dropped the glass on the counter with a clatter, which Junior let out a terrified whimper at – time was up.

She grabbed the nearest goon at the bar by the back of his coat and dragged him into the middle of the saloon. The other patrons stopped what they were doing and stared curiously. Once she had all eyes on her Yang coughed importantly into her fist before lifting the thug over her head with the greatest of ease.

"Hey…riot…," Yang announced casually.

It was like a switch had been flipped. One moment everyone was enjoying their time off, hanging out with the friend over drinks and cards; then the next moment, the whole bar exploded with inexplicable outrage. Friends quickly turned into enemies, grabbing bottles off the tables and smashing them over their neighbor's heads; tables were flipped, chairs were thrown against the wall, reduced to kindling, and every single goon was throwing punches at the nearest conscious body. Yang grinned, admiring her work, as she casually threw the goon over her head into the angry crowd.

"Heh, works every time," said Yang, patting herself on the back.

Of course, she momentarily forgot that she was in the middle of a practical warzone until one of the henchmen tackled her into the ground from behind. The blonde brawler quickly threw her arms out to catch herself and flipped around on her back. She crossed her arms over her face to block a punch from the guy straddling her waist, pushed him back a little, and returned it with a sharp jab that broke his nose with an audible  _crack_. The goon jumped to his feet, crying out as he held his bleeding nose, giving Yang a chance to shoot up and strike with a powerful uppercut that lifted him off his feet. The henchman shot up to the ceiling, shaking the hanging light fixtures, and fell back onto the ground face first, unmoving.

Yang brushed herself off while casually dodging a beer bottle that flew past her head. She looked around the bar. The magic phrase had gotten everyone riled up like she wanted it to (how it even worked was a question for another time), and at least three or four people were knocked out on the floor, including the one Yang nailed. Yang shook her head with an amused grin, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

"You'd think with an all-out bar fight going on, there'd be  _waaay_  more people knocked out by now," she said. She sighed and reached behind her belt, whipping out her double shotguns, seamlessly loading them at the same time. "Oh well, more fun for me."

Yang sauntered her way over to two thickheaded goons who were taking turns punching each other in the face, stopping momentarily when the golden brawled stepped between them. In that brief pause, Yang stomped her boot on the toes of the goon standing on her left, making the man hop up and down, howling like a wounded dog, then threw an elbow strike at the man on her right. As the henchman doubled over, Yang brought her knee up to connect with his chin (his teeth clicked hard enough to hear over the ruckus), then blasted him in the chest with her shotgun when his head flew back. The goon flew into two more thugs as they flew into the wooden wall, breaking a shelf full of expensive-looking items (Yang heard Junior's pained squeals from the other side of the bar). Yang then flipped around to the other thug with a spinning roundhouse to the side of his face, flipping the goon around so that his back was to her. Yang didn't waste a moment blasting him in the back, sending the henchman crashing into the floor face first, then leaped forward and stomped on the back of his head for good measure.

Yang quickly moved on to the next thug in front of her, kicking him in the chest to get his attention before blasting him into the ceiling with her shotguns. She flipped around to dropkick the next thug, smacking his head against the counter, then moved on to the next in line with a swinging clothesline, driving him into the floor. The blonde brawler straightened herself up, flipping her hair out of her eyes, and turned around toward the bar where Junior was cowering behind (while ducking a random henchman that went sailing over her head). She rapped her knuckles on the counter, startling Junior.

"Hey, can I get another Strawberry Sunrise?" she asked politely, and backfisted a goon coming up to her from behind.

"Seriously?" asked Junior, dumbfounded, gesturing to the chaos she created.

"Hey, beating up bad guys is thirsty work," Yang argued.

Junior rolled his eyes irritable, but nonetheless dived underneath the bad where he stashed all his good product, and came back up with another glass. Yang knocked back the entire thing in one gulp like a pro…then spun around and smashed the glass over the head of the goon that bumped her shoulder, knocking him out instantly.

"…Are you even going to pay for anything?" Junior asked broodingly, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," said Yang teasingly, popping her lips at the 'p', spun around on her heels and walked back into the fight.

By now, most of the thugs in the room were getting tired of beating on each other and started focusing on her – she was the one who started the riot after all. Yang didn't mind; it'd be boring if she only got to knock around a  _few_ skulls.

Yang blasted her shotgun into the gun of the henchman charging at her from the front, throwing him into a pile of unaware goon, and kicked backwards at another thug coming at her from behind. She spotted another goon out of the corner of her eye and dropped to the floor when he tried to trap her in a bearhug. Yang knocked him off his feet with a sweeping kick and followed up with a shotgun shell to the chest that slammed him into one of the light fixtures, shattering the bulb and showering them in bits of glass. The guards around her threw their hands over their heads to protect their faces from the falling shards, which Yang, not afraid of a few cuts, took full advantage off. The blonde brawler charged at the closest guard in front of her, jumping up and slamming her heels into his chest while propelling herself backwards into another henchman, pounding him into the floor with a heavy dropkick from above. The unfortunate sucker who had been standing next to him had no time to defend himself before smashed his face with the butt of her shotgun and then kicked him away, sending him flying over the counter where Junior was hidden.

Someone shouted behind Yang and the blonde bruiser barely looked over her shoulder when she spotted her next opponent, who finally had the sense to grab a weapon, even if it was a barstool. Yang sidestepped when the guard smashed the stool where she previous stood, effectively reducing it to kindling. The golden fighter threw her elbow into the man's gut, knocking the wind out of him, then sent him flying across the bar with a spinning roundhouse to the face. Not even a second after the first one was gone a second guard came running up to her swinging a broken table leg. Yang easily deflected the makeshift weapon with one shotgun while she shot the man in the shoulder with the other, forcing him to drop the table leg, then lifted her right foot and kicked the guard under his chin, throwing him unconscious onto his back.

The fight continued in much the same way. The floor was littered with at least a dozen unconscious bodies by now, but there were still at least fourteen or fifteen henchmen left. Yang wasn't particularly worried; no one had managed to land a single hit on her.

"C'mon, you boys aren't getting tired, are ya?" Yang taunted. "I haven't even gotten warmed up."

The uncanny timing of the way the tavern door was kicked open lead Yang to believe that someone had been standing outside waiting for her to say something for a dramatic entrance. The thug that walked in was a lot more muscular than the others, but that was probably so that he could carry that  _freakin' minigun on his shoulder!_  But what caused Yang's eyes to go wide wasn't his hulking frame or the heavy ammunition he was carrying…it was the black and red neon bear mask.

"DJ Deadb3ar?" said Yang surprisingly. She turned to Junior, her brow raised so far into her hairline. "Wait, you couldn't hold on to the twins, but you kept the DJ…for a bar that gets its music from a radio."

"He's my nephew," said Junior blandly. "His parents bummed him off on me because they didn't want him."

"And the reason he's so jacked is…?" Yang asked slowly.

"He's been taking yoga lately," Junior replied.

That…makes absolutely zero sense, Yang thought.

Of course, that hardly seemed to matter when the unnaturally buff former DJ lowered his minigun and started unloading the entire clip, swinging it around without bothering to take aim. Yang quickly rolled of out the way of the hailstorm of bullets that went whizzing over her head, taking cover behind an upturned table. The other bar patrons were running around, screaming and ducking their heads trying to find the nearest exit; the former DJ didn't seem to take any of them into consideration when he started shooting up the place. And as much of a criminal Yang was herself, she wasn't about to let a bunch of people be killed because of a dangerously negligent, yoga buffed, ex-DJ. She needed to give them a chance to escape – she needed to get Deadb3ar's attention.

"Hey, baby bear!" Yang shouted, suddenly jumping up from her hiding place, waving her arms around. "How can you're aim suck so bad when you literally just have to point and shoot?"

That did it, Yang thought. The beefy DJ lugged the minigun around pointed at Yang and let loose a lethal spray. Yang dashed away from her spot as the bullets reduced the table to wood shavings. The blonde brawler purposely ran around the edges of the tavern, leading DJ Deadb3ars barrel away from the other henchmen. Speaking of whom, most of them were clogging up the entryway to the bar that some of them, started throwing themselves out the windows – Yang thought she saw one of them climbing the stairs to the roof. Yang shook her head exasperatedly; looks like she was going to need to keep him busy for a while.

"Seriously, how are you so bad at this?" Yang taunted, kicking off the wall to flip backwards over the bullet spray. "You couldn't hit the broadside of the barn if it were three feet in front of you!"

It might have been her imagination, but she thought DJ Deadb3ar actually growled at her. He seemed to be chasing her more intently as Yang led his trail to the opposite side of the bar.

"Must be because of that stupid bear head thing you're still wearing!" Yang shouted teasingly as she ran on top of the counter; Junior let out a frightened squeak as the bullets riddled the wall above him. "I'll bet you're super ugly under that thing! I bet you're so ugly that when you look in the mirror, your reflection slaps itself!"

The former DJ stomped furiously closer as he followed the blonde brawler, who had jumped off the counter, kicked off the wall, and dropped into a graceful slide under the shower of bullets before picking herself up. Yang stooped down for a quick second, snatching up an empty glass mug, and tossed it without looking. The glass smashed against the DJ's bear head, causing the mask to tilt slightly and obscure his vision. He stumbled drunkenly backwards, his finger still on the trigger and shooting uncontrollably at the ceiling. DJ Deadb3ar took one hand away from the minigun and used it to correct his mask just in time to see Yang swoop in from the front.

The former DJ swung his minigun like a club, but Yang effortlessly hopped over the weapon, using one hand to push herself over like a pommel horse. She stomped both boots into the DJs chest, which didn't make him fall over like she was hoping, but it was enough to unsteady him. When she landed on her feet, Yang pointed her shotgun away, pulled the trigger, and used the recoil of the shot to drive her elbow into Deadb3ar's chest with double the force, making him double over with a pained groan. Yang reached forward, grabbed the former DJ by the back of his head, and brought his face down to meet her rising knee, disorienting him. Then, with all the strength her smaller body could muster, Yang picked up the beefy DJ, raising him clear over her head, and then threw him at the counter. The wooden bar crumbled under his weight, and Junior, now exposed from his hiding spot, grabbed as many bottles of expensive alcohol as he could hold, and scurried off into the corner like a frightened rat.

Yang took this brief pause in the action to empty the barrels of her shotguns and reload them with new rubber-filled shells; she had designed this weapon back in the village to fire off multiple rounds instead of the traditional two, having the foresight to know she would be using them for…unorthodox methods. But at the same time, DJ Deadb3ar started to raise himself from the broken shambles of the bar, rubbing his bear mask like it was his actual head. Yang was actually impressed - the first time she used that move on the DJ back in Junior's first club, it had knocked him out in an instant. The former emcee shook his head and Yang was very sure he was glaring at her through his eyeholes.

"What's the matter, big boy?" Yang said mockingly, shaking her hips enticingly. "Can't handle a  _real_ woman?"

DJ Deadb3ar hefted the minigun and aimed it squarely at Yang's chest with the blonde brawler, who made no effort of moving out of the way and waved at him teasingly. When the former emcee pulled the trigger, all he got was a sharp  _click_! The bear-headed man looked at his weapon, tilting his head confused, then looked back at Yang. The golden boxer was grinning from ear-to-ear as she dangled something in front of her – it was the gun's ammunition chain.

"Ooh, tough luck," said Yang, tossing the ammo over her shoulder. "Whaddya gonna do now?"

Yang had meant that to be a cue for him to surrender, so she was genuinely surprised when the beefy DJ flipped the minigun around so he was holding it by the long barrel and lifted it like a baseball bat. DJ Deadb3ar charged across the tavern like a raging bull and swung his weapon from the side, barely giving Yang enough time to raise her arms in defense. She slid sideways, nearly over a pile of broken wood, her arms still defending either side of her head as the hulking emcee came after her, wailing on her left and right with his gun-turned-blunt-instrument. Now Yang was pretty durable, but getting pounded on by fifty pounds of solid metal was really starting to make her arms sting. Even worse when one particularly heavy swing knocked Yang off-balance, causing her to stumble and leave her wide open for a brutal swing to the gut. The blonde bruiser was thrown clear across the room like a ragdoll, smashing into the shelf behind what was once the counter and dropped forward on her front, where she had the misfortune to land on top of the bottles that Junior had left behind.

Yang bit her tongue to stop herself from crying out. She could feel the sharp points of the broken glass digging into her chest through the thin material of her shirt, which was drenched in a mixture of strong alcohols that made even Yang dizzy when breathing in the fumes. She pushed herself up to her knees, holding back the wince as the glass cut into her legs, and shook her messy golden mane. She leered up at DJ Deadb3ar, who was practically swaggering as he shouldered the minigun, silently taunting her. Yang breathed heavily through her nose and exhaled quietly through her mouth. She calmly climbed to her feet and brushed the glass off herself before turning back.

"Okay…now I'm upset," she said coolly.

She pumped both shotguns and launched herself at the former emcee.

DJ Deadb3ar swung the minigun for Yang's head, but the blonde bruiser carefully ducked underneath it's reached. The emcee swung the other way, but Yang once against slid underneath and was now standing inches away from her opponent. She pointed one of the shotguns at the DJ's head, but the former entertainer narrowly managed to pull back before the shot went off. He wasn't as fortune, however, when Yang crossed the other shotgun over her chest and aimed it at his shoulder, blasting him at pointblank range. The bear-headed performer only stumbled a couple paces and started to raise his minigun again, but Yang turned sharply on her heels and shot the man in the forearm, forcing him to drop his weapon on the ground with a heavy clatter. With no way of defending himself, DJ Deadb3ar became the victim to Yang's signature rapid-fire explosions. The blonde brawler relentlessly fired off every rubber-filled shell in both guns, splattering him in a colorful array of glowing-red welts and purplish-blue bruises. But despite the brutal beating he was taking the jacked-up DJ was not falling down – he was a tough SOB, Yang had to admit.

And then, the most horrific and terrifying thing in the history of humanity occurred.

Desperate to get out of the painful flurry, DJ Deadb3ar reached forward and desperately grabbed anything that would stop her. His fingers managed to wrap around something soft, so her pulled with all his might. A sharp ripping noise filled the tavern and the shotguns stopped firing at once. DJ Deadb3ar looked around, momentarily confused. Yang was still standing in front of him, staring wide-eyed at the former entertainer, her shotguns falling out of her limp hands. On the other side of the bar, Junior's mouth was open so wide it looked like he was screaming, but his voice refused to come out. The former DJ, possibly wondering why everyone was acting so weird, looked down at his hand and felt a chill of silent horror run up his spine.

There, wrapped between his meaty fingers, were several strands of Yang's hair.

"You…," Yang muttered in a low, deathly tone.

" _ **Oh shit,**_ " Weiss gasped over the comm unit.

"Oh shit," Junior murmured.

"Oh shit," DJ Deadb3ar whimpered, the first thing he said the entire fight.

Oh shit, said the terrified author writing this.

And then – Yang exploded.

" _ **YOU MONSTER!**_ "

Yang's fist was clenched so tightly it could shatter diamonds as she pulled her hand back, her teeth bared like a savage dragon, her violet eyes flashing furious red, and her golden seemed to flare almost as if it were on fire. DJ Deadb3ar did not defend himself as Yang took a thunderous step forward and swung her fist with all her might – whether it was because he was too terrified to move or knew it was pointless to block was unknown. Yang's knuckles buried themselves deep into the fabric of the bear mask, ripping it in half, and sent the muscular emcee flying across the tavern through the wooden wall next to Junior's corner. Through the gaping hole in the wood, Yang saw the former DJ rocket across the street and smash through the building on the opposite side of the rode. He didn't get back up.

Her enemy defeated and her revenge satisfied, Yang took a deep, cleansing breath; her internal blaze declined to a calming ember.

The blonde bruiser cracked the kinks in her stiff neck and shook her pleasantly throbbing hands. She stooped down to pick up her shotguns and holstered them on her belt before turning to Junior, who looked to be on the verge of crying. Yang chuckled to herself as she approached the now out-of-business bartender and stopped a few feet away with her hands on her hips, grinning smugly.

"Strawberry – " She hardly got a word in before Junior held up a glass of her favorite, his hand shaking violently. "Now that's what I call service." She snatched the glass out of his hand, took a long, victorious sip of her fruity reward, then touched the communicator in her ear. "Hey, Weiss, bar's all clear."

" _ **Yeah, I saw,**_ " Weiss responded dryly. " _ **You didn't kill that guy, did you?**_ "

"Nah, he's fine…I think," Yang said after a thoughtful pause. "I took out a lot of the guys here, but a few of them got away while I was beating down baby bear. Is that gonna be a problem?"

" _ **Normally, I would reprimand you for your carelessness**_ ," said Weiss critically. " _ **But, fortunately for you, your mission wasn't a total failure. As we speak, Watts is receiving over two dozen resignation letters via e-mail, and the island security feed shows a swarm of terrified Englishmen sprinting toward the docks. Looks like you managed to scare them off. This will be an enormous help during the big heist.**_ "

"Glad to help," said Yang, taking another swig. "How're the others doing?"

" _ **Blake managed to successfully infiltrate Laboratory 6 and is heading to the mainframe as we speak,**_ " answered Weiss. " _ **Ruby's heading for the last alarm, but she's being chased by Winter and her new partner.**_ "

"Sucks to be her," said Yang nonchalantly. "Need me to help out?"

" _ **No, Ruby can handle herself,**_ " said Weiss. " _ **I need you back at the hide out so that we can make final preparations for the heist.**_ "

"On my way back," Yang answered as the commlink cut out. She downed the rest of her drink, carelessly tossed the empty glass over her shoulder, and turned back to Junior. "Well, time for me to be hitting the road. And it looks like you're going to need a new place," she added, taking a quick look around the destroyed tavern. "Any ideas where you're planning to open up shop, next?"

"Are you kidding me?" said Junior aghast. "There's no way I'm telling  _you_!"

"Eh, it doesn't matter," said Yang, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll find you…I always do…," she finished with a menacing tone and a devilish grin.

Yang threw back her head and laughed as Junior's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out in pure terror. The golden bruiser left the bar, whistling a happy little tune with a spring in her step.


End file.
